Splitting tendency of cellulosic fibers. Part 3: splitting tendency of viscose and modal fibers

The splitting tendency of viscose and modal fibers in aqueous alkali solutions of LiOH, NaOH, KOH and TMAH was investigated. The viscose fibers splitted up to 5–7 fibrils, whereas modal fibers splitted up to 2–4 fibrils depending on alkali type and concentration. The fibrillar structure of lyocell enables it to split more (15–20 fibrils) than viscose and modal fibers. Splitting occurs where internal stress of fiber is high due to different alkali or void distribution inside fiber. The splitting test couldn’t be achieved for viscose and modal fibers between 1 and 5 M concentration of NaOH and TMAH solutions due to breakage of fibers during test. Above 5 M concentration, no split can be observed due to even distribution of alkali inside fiber. Paper presented at the 7th World Textile Conference, AUTEX 2007, Tampere, Finland, 26–28 June 2007. Christian-Doppler Laboratory of Textile and Fiber Chemistry of Cellulosics is a Member of European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE), www.epnoe.org