Impact of Fiber Processing on Cotton Fiber Tensile Properties

In order to compete with man-made fibers in the textile industry, it is important to ensure good processing performance of cotton fibers. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the changes in tensile properties which occur due to processing. If the decisive tensile properties in fiber processing could be identified, they could be given more consideration in the breeding programs to improve the processing performance of cotton fibers. Among the main tensile properties, fiber strength is considered as the dominant tensile property while fiber elongation has generally been neglected. The presence of a negative correlation between bundle tenacity and elongation is a main reason for the lack of interest in elongation. The importance of elongation in processing was separately assessed using cotton samples which represented a wide range in elongation. All other fiber properties except elongation were constant within a family. The results indicated the better performance of higher elongation fibers. Thus, in order to achieve better processing performance of fibers, elongation should be given more consideration in the breeding programs.