A study of the fine structure of regenerated cellulose fibers

The examination of a series of high wet modulus fibers by methods commonly employed in studying fiber structure has shown that these methods measure overall molecular accessibility rather than truly crystalline material. The only unequivocal measure of lattice structure is obtained from X‐ray measurements. The amount of such material within the molecular structure appears to be governed by probability and in consequence such measurements would seem to have little significance in terms of fiber properties. In as much as marked changes in one dimensional order, as measured by birefringence, can be directly correlated with changes in fiber structure, as determined by other methods, birefringence measurements appear to be a tool of considerable value in structural studies. Using such correlations, it has been shown that an ideally oriented regenerated cellulose fiber has a conditioned birefringence of 0.056 and an accessibility of 27%.