Never-Dried Cotton Fibers

Abstract

The preservation of the mechanical and transport properties of never-dried cotton has been accomplished by the treatment of never-dried fibers with ethylene oxide or propylene oxide under mildly alkaline conditions. Fibers subjected to this process display high extensibility, accessibility, and strength comparable or superior to the corresponding properties of never-dried cotton at standard conditions of temperature and humidity. Gamma-initiated radiation grafting of ethylacrylate to never-dried and once-dried cotton indicated that never-dried fibers grafted at higher rates than ordinary cotton.