COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SUPRAMOLECULAR STRUCTURE OF CELLULOSE IN COTTON FIBERS OF GOSSYPIUM HIRSUTUM AND GOSSYPIUM BARBADENSE
Abstract
In this article, fifteen varieties of cotton fibers belonging to G. hirsutum and ten varieties of cotton fibers belonging to G. barbadense species of different origin have been studied by WAXS and several other methods. Various characteristics of supramolecular structure of these fibers were obtained, such as crystallinity, size and paracrystallinity degree of crystallites, parameters of the crystalline unit cell, microfibrilar angle (MFA) and coefficient of orientation (K o ). From the results, it follows that cotton fibers of G. barbadense have a noticeably more ordered structure than G. hirsutum fibers. In particular, cotton fibers of G. barbadense were more crystalline, while the cellulose crystallites of G. barbadense were longer, wider, denser and less disordered than those of G. hirsutum. The measurements also showed that cotton microfibrils of G. barbadense were better oriented. The revealed structural features of G. barbadense cotton fibers explain their higher density, strength and elasticity, compared to G. hirsutum fibers.