Studies on swelling of cotton fibers in alkali metal hydroxides. I. Influence of variations in fine structure on tensile behavior

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Abstract
A study on cotton fibers swollen slack at ambient temperature in different concentrations of LiOH and KOH indicates that fibers swollen in KOH have higher disorder. Conversion to cellulose II results from swelling in both the reagents, although, with KOH swelling, it begins at a lower concentration. Further, retention of tenacity is higher at all gauge lengths after KOH swelling. Analysis of the influence of fine structure on tensile properties showed some specificity, mainly attributable to cationic size differences of the swelling agents.