Cotton

Fall 2009

The most important widely used natural fiber. Cellulosic in nature 2004 --- 38% total products were cotton based.

The cellulose in cotton fibers is highest molecular weight among all plant fibers and highest structural order, i.e., highly crystalline, oriented and fibrillar.

Cotton fibers are composed of mostly acellulose (88.096.5%) The noncellulosics are located either on the outer layers (cuticle and primary cell wall) or inside the lumens of the fibers whereas the secondary cell wall is purely cellulose.

Non- Cellulosic
The noncellulosics include:proteins (1.01.9%), waxes (0.41.2%), pectins (0.41.2%), inorganics (0.71.6%), and other (0.58.0%) substances.

Primary Wall
The primary cell walls of cotton fibers contain less than 30% cellulose, noncellulosic polymers, neutral sugars, uronic acid, and various proteins The cellulose in the primary cell walls has lower molecular weight, with the degree of polymerization (DP) between 2,000 and 6,000 and their distributions are broader

Secondary Wall
The secondary wall of the cotton fiber is nearly 100% cellulose. The DP of the cellulose in the secondary wall is about 14,000, and the molecular weight distribution is more uniform

Beta glucose

Cross section

Porous structure
The cotton fiber is hydrophilic and porous. Upon immersion in liquid water, the cotton fiber swells and its internal pores fill with water

Reactive OH groups