The chemical sectioning of plant fibres

Abstract

The cellulose fibre has been investigated frequently in recent years, from both the chemical and physical points of view. Special attention has been paid to the minute details of visible structure, not only in connection with the problems of cellulose molecule arrangement but also as they may have a bearing on the technical problems of the textile industries. Summing our knowledge briefly, plant fibres have been shown to have a concentric structure of spirally disposed cellulose aggregates, with both crystalline and colloidal properties. Balls (1) in 1919 was able to link up the concentric structure of the cotton hair with the simple factor of a daily increment of growth. Reimers (2) in 1921 gave a useful summary of work on cellulose fibres, with special reference to the spiral arrangement of the fibre components, whilst Nodder (3) in 1924 brought this matter more up to date and extended our knowledge in several directions. The present brief communication records another phenomenon, which apparently has escaped notice before ; namely, a transverse lamellation with a tendency under certain conditions for fibres to segment into thin sections perfectly transverse to the longitudinal fibre axis. This phenomenon was first described and illustrated by Searle (4) in a paper on chemically tendered flax fibres, but little attention was given to it at the time, as it appeared to have occurred more by accident than by design.