Effect of Enzymatic Treatment on the Morphology of Cotton Fibers Shattered by Dry Process.

Abstract

Cotton fibers were shattered by a rotor mill with different sieve meshes and then treated with cellulase to obtain cotton cellulosic powder which could be potentially new material resource. In the initial stage of the enzymatic treatment, the nap formed on the fiber surface during the mechanical shattering was exclusively hydrolyzed. Therefore, the fiber surface of the shattered fiber became smooth, and the weight loss became much larger in the treatment of the shattered fibers than in the treatment of the original cotton fiber. When the treatment time was increased, the fiber length became shorter with many cracks formed inside the fiber. Wide angle X-ray scattering of the enzyme-treated fibers revealed that the crystallinity increased in the initial stage of the treatment, but became constant in the later stage. The specific surfacc area and micropore volume of the fibers sharply decreased in the beginning of the enzymatic treatment, while they increased in the later stage with increasing treatment time. The specific surface area reached a plateau after 50h of treatment with the micropore volume decreasing.