30—the Effect of Thermal Treatment on the Crystallographic Order of Native and Mercerized Cotton

This paper describes a quantitative X-ray-diffraction investigation into the effects of the time of heating native and mercerized cotton fibres at 220°C on the crystallographic order. It is concluded that thermally induced structural modifications are time-dependent and that dissimilar mechanisms operate in the two specimens examined. For example, it appears that an initial recrystallization occurs in native fibres, whereas in mercerized specimens degradation of order increases continuously with the time of heating.