The Dyeing of Cotton Fabrics: A Practical Handbook for the Dyer and Student

by Franklin Beech

Composition of the Cotton Fibres.—Of all the vegetable textile fibres cotton is found to have the simplest chemical composition and to be, as it were, the type substance of all such fibres, the others differing from it in several respects. When stripped of the comparatively small quantities of impurities, cotton is found to consist of a substance to which the name of cellulose has been given.

FIG. 1.—Cotton Fibre.

Cellulose is a compound of the three elements, carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, in the proportions shown in the following analysis:—

Carbon, 44.2 per cent., Hydrogen, 6.3 per cent., Oxygen, 49.5 per cent.,

which corresponds to the empirical formula C₆H₁₀O₅, which shows it to belong to the group of carbo-hydrates, that is, bodies which contain the hydrogen and oxygen present in them in the proportion in

which they are present in water, namely H₂O.

Cellulose may be obtained in a pure condition from cotton by treatment with alkalies, followed by washing, and by treatment with alkaline hypochlorites, acids, washing and, finally, drying. As thus obtained it is a white substance having the form of the fibre from which it is procured, showing a slight lustre, and is slightly translucent. The specific gravity is 1.5, it being heavier than water. It is characterised by being very inert, a property of considerable value from a technical point of view, as enabling the fibres to stand the various operations of bleaching, dyeing, printing, finishing, etc. Nevertheless, by suitable means, cellulose can be made to undergo various chemical decompositions which will be noted in some detail.

Cellulose on exposure to the air will absorb moisture or water. This is known as hygroscopic moisture, or "water of condition". The amount in cotton is about 8 per cent., and it has a very important bearing on the spinning properties of the fibre, as it makes the fibre soft and elastic, while absolutely dry cotton fibre is stiff, brittle and non-elastic; hence it is easier to spin and weave cotton in moist climates or weather than in dry climates or weather. Cotton cellulose is insoluble in all ordinary solvents, such as water, ether, alcohol, chloroform, benzene, etc., and these agents have no influence in any way on the material, but it is soluble in some special solvents that will be noted later on.

ACTION OF ALKALIES.