Mercerization Effects on Cotton Fiber Properties
Mercerization is a textile finishing process where cotton fabric or yarn is treated with a cold, concentrated sodium hydroxide solution. This process causes the cotton fibers to swell and alters their internal structure.
The key structural changes resulting from mercerization, as explained by the observed effects, are an increase in the orientation of the cellulose polymer chains and an increase in the amorphous regions within the fiber structure. The increased orientation leads to better alignment of the chains, while the swelling potentially opens up the structure, increasing accessible amorphous regions.
These structural modifications directly explain the improvements in cotton fiber characteristics:
- Increased Strength: The enhanced alignment (orientation) of cellulose chains contributes significantly to the fiber's tensile strength.
- Increased Moisture Absorption: The alteration and potential increase in amorphous regions make the fiber more receptive to water molecules, thus improving its moisture absorption capacity.
Therefore, the reason for the increased strength and moisture absorption capacity of cotton fiber after mercerization is the increase in orientation coupled with an increase in amorphous regions.
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Important Questions from Miscellaneous
- Which of the following scheduler/schedulers is/are also called CPU scheduler ?
(A). Short Term Scheduler
(B). Long Term Scheduler
(C). Medium Term Scheduler
(D). Asymmetric Scheduler
Choose the correct answer from the options given below: - A situation where two or more processes are blocked, waiting for resources held by each other is called:
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