Page 249 - Handbook of Properties of Textile and Technical Fibres

Tensile properties of cotton 7

fibers: importance, research, and
limitations

1
Yehia Elmogahzy , Ramsis Farag 2
1 2
EL-Learning, LLC, Toms River, NJ, United States; Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United
States

7.1 Introduction

Since the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1807, cotton has been in the
forefront of all fibers in numerous products including woven and knit apparels, denim,
bedsheets, towels, and numerous utility products. In 1940, the polyester fiber was
introduced with one of its main targets being to displace or share cotton fiber in
products that have traditionally been dominated by cotton. The key advantage of
polyester fiber stems from the fact that it can be cut to any staple length, and it can
be made at any level of fiber fineness from coarse to microdenier. It also has a 20%
lower specific gravity than cotton, which means an advantage of using polyester
fiber in terms of fit and style because of the lighter weight of products made from
polyester fiber. When durability of textile products is of concern, polyester fiber has
the advantage over cotton fiber in that it can be produced of moderate to high tenacity,
and it has superior breaking elongation. Polyester fibers are also easier to twist (70%
lower in specific torsional rigidity than cotton) and easier to bend (about 20% lower in
specific flexural rigidity). This makes manipulation of polyester fibers during
processing less challenging than cotton fibers.
Despite all the advantages of polyester fiber mentioned above, the cotton fiber has
managed to be the dominant fiber in numerous products for over 60 years since the
introduction of polyester fiber. This domination was not particularly a result of
superior physical attributes of cotton fibers over those of polyester fibers; it was rather
a result of the cotton fiber being a natural fiber providing soft hand, breathability, an
optimum combination of liquid absorbance and wicking, human sweat management,
and comfort characteristics. These are the attributes that have made consumers forgive
cotton for many common problems such as shrinkage, poor dimensional stability, and
moderate durability under repeated usage and repeated washing and drying. These
attributes are also the reasons that textile manufacturers around the world had to use
cotton fibers despite many profit-detaining obstacles such as high level of variability
leading to inconsistent quality levels, an inevitable waste of material reaching more
than 15%, more than 5% unusable short fibers and fiber fragments, fiber neps,
contaminants, plant residuals, and seed-coat fragments.

Handbook of Properties of Textile and Technical Fibres. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-101272-7.00007-9
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