Studies on Luster in Textiles

Abstract

By using a specially designed sample holder for gripping the aligned and parallelized cotton fibers in conjunction with locally fabricated lustermeter, it has been possible to measure accurately the changes in the luster behavior of cotton fibers on slack merceri zation followed by stretching to different degrees. The differential response of cotton fibers of ten varieties to the enhancement of luster as a result of slack mercerization followed by stretching to different extents has been related to the corresponding changes in the gross morphological structure and the molecular orientation. The degree of shape improvement between unmercerized and mercerized-unstretched state of a cotton has been found to be much greater than the shape improvement from mercerized-unstretched to mercerized-stretched state, and yet the development of luster has been found to be far more pronounced in the latter case than in the former. Attempts have been made to explain this behavior in terms of the changes in the molecular orientation, surface characteristics, and convolution geometry of the cotton fibers.