Swelling Behavior and Comparative Porosity of Some Vegetable Textile Fibers at Different Moisture Regains

Abstract

The volume swelling of several textile fibers of plant origin at different moisture conditions has been studied by determin ing their true densities in a density-gradient column. Although the fibers contained different amounts of cellulose, hemi cellulose, and lignin, a simple relation between moisture regain and volume swelling was obtained in all cases. Porosity of the fibers, as estimated from their apparent and true densities, indicated that those having high cellulosic content were less porous than those with high noncellulosic contents. Respective porosities of the fibers did not change significantly with increasing swelling.