Thermal properties of flax fiber scoured by different methods

Abstract

Thermal properties of flax roves untreated and treated were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravity analyzer (TGA) in order to understand their thermal behavior in more detail and to evaluate the effect of scouring processing on the thermal behavior. Flax roves were treated with six kinds of methods including biological scouring, one bath, two bath, bleaching, alkali scouring and industry chemical scouring as standards. Results showed that all treatments improved thermal stability of flax roves. The results indicated that glass transition temperature (Tg) decreased after scouring besides the sample by directly bleaching. It is more difficult to determine the endothermic peak of flax treated by chemical scouring in industry because it takes a very flat course. A distinct endothermic peak was observed for the untreated flax rove, while a distinct exothermic peak in different temperature interval was revealed for other four treated flax rove samples. For TGA analysis, thermal degradation of flax roves studied consists of three regions of the initial, main, and char decomposition, and the third stage consists of secondary weight loss and carbonization for flax roves with biological scouring, one-bath and two-bath. Besides, different residue left indicates that the bio-scoured flax roves are lost with volatile products and does not contribute to char formation. These results provide valuable preferences for mechanism and top value added application of bio-scouring in flax roves.