In order to investigate mercerized cotton fiber swelling, raw and bleached cotton fibers have been treated with various concentrations of sodium hydroxide solutions, with and without a wetting agent. Water retention method (WRV) and Propanol-2-retention method (PRV) has been used to determine the fiber swelling, while the barium activity number method (BAN) has been implemented to determine the rise of absorptivity, as well as the moisture regain. The cotton fiber treated with alkali and wetting agent for 120 s swelled more than the fiber treated in pure alkali for 1 hr. The correlation degree of swelling, BAN and moisture regain of the mercerized and unmercerized fiber have been determined through a statistical analysis. A good correlation is obtained between swelling, expressed as PRV and BAN in the case of raw mercerized fibers and there is no correlation between BAN and WRV. For bleached fibers equal correlation is obtained between swelling, expressed as WRV and PRV, BAN and moisture regain. Thus, PRV can be recommended as better for practical work.

Tekstilna tehnologija