Abstract

Calotropis gigantea fiber is a kind of natural cellulose fiber that regains increasing attention nowadays, thus it is evaluated here aiming to replace cotton or kapok fibers to some extent. New discoveries are found about its morphological structure, indicating that it has sharper, closed tip and coarser, open end, and that it usually has 4-6 grooves along its longitudinal axis, with fully distributed microvillus on its surface. The FTIR spectrum shows the fiber mainly contain cellulose, lignin and hemi-cellulose component. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the fiber has higher crystallinity in comparison with kapok fiber. In term of breaking strength, the fiber is obvious lower than cotton fiber and a little higher than kapok fiber. Furthermore, the fiber has good water absorbing and releasing capability, implying it has excellent water transmissivity.

Keywords: Calotropis gigantea fiber; Natural cellulose fiber; Morphological structure; Water transmissivity