Study On The Structure And Properties Of The Regenerated Bamboo Fiber

The resource of bamboo is abundant in China. Bamboo grows up rapidly, and has a strong ability to pest-resistant. At the same time, it also has low production costs, and contains high cellulose content. Therefore, bamboo has a great capacious future. At present, in our country, the regenerated bamboo fiber has been achieved industrialization. However, there are still few systemic and overall research reports on its structure and properties until now, which leads to the low level of its overall production. This paper carried out the aspect research on the regenerated bamboo fiber compared with the conventional viscose fiber, which was to further improve the fiber's production process conditions, and the properties of its products. And this research will provide a theoretical basis for independent testing standards of the regenerated bamboo fiber. This paper mainly includes several parts as follows:Firstly, the morphology, molecular and aggregation structures of the regenerated bamboo fiber were researched by using the modern testing methods, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Wide angle X-ray diffraction (WXRD), FTIR spectroscopy, and so on. The results showed that its basic structural parameters were similar to the conventional viscose fiber, but it still had some differences between them because of their different making-craft and raw materials. For examples, compared with the conventional viscose fiber, the regenerated bamboo fiber was slightly higher of its crystallinity, much smaller of its grain sizes within the fiber and lower of its orientation degree. These structural characteristics determined the physical properties of the fibers.Secondly, the basic physical properties of the regenerated bamboo fiber were researched and analyzed. The results indicated that compared with the conventional viscose fiber, the regenerated bamboo fiber was more easily to be wetted by water, and the rate of liberation in the initial stage was higher, and its creep phenomenon was less obvious. At the same time, we concluded that the spinnability and the comfort of the clothing made of the regenerated bamboo fiber may be better than the conventional viscose fiber. However, the regenerated bamboo fiber's thermal stability was much lower and its inflation rates in the different concentrations of alkaline solution were all higher than the conventional viscose fiber. They both had some deficiencies, such as low intensity, especially in the wet state.Thirdly, this paper also researched the alkali resistance and heat resistance of the regenerated bamboo fiber in depth.After slack caustic treatment, the fibers'molecular structures had no obvious changes, but their morphology and aggregation structures were both changed significantly. The regenerated bamboo fiber exhibited poorer alkali resistance than the conventional viscose fiber. The regenerated bamboo fiber began to display erosive surface after the treatment with alkali concentrations of 120g/L. It was found that as the alkali concentrations increasing, the crystallinity of the regenerated bamboo fiber increased firstly, and then it tended to smooth. The crystallinity reached to the maximum at an alkali concentration of 150 g/L, and at this concentration the weight loss also reached to the maximum. The orientation of the fiber decreased as the alkali concentrations increasing. These changes of the fiber's structures also affected its physical properties, such as its thermal property, mechanical property and wetting property, and so on. Among them, by the alkali treatment, the fiber's thermal stability and wetting property were both improved, and its mechanical property was decreased.After heat treatment for a long time at high temperature in different ways, the crystallinity of the regenerated bamboo fiber was decreased slightly. With increasing the temperature and time, the fiber's breaking strength and elongation and whiteness index were all decreased, and the shrinkage rates of different yarns containing the regenerated bamboo fibers had an upward trend in different levels, while the yarns mixed with certain proportion of cotton or silk fiber, especially with the cotton fiber, which can effectively reduce the shrinkage rate, especially after the hot water relaxation treatments. Among them, in the same heat treatment conditions, the hot water relaxation treatment had more affection on the regenerated bamboo fiber's properties than dry heat relaxation treatment, while the strength loss rate of the yarns were higher by dry heat relaxation treatment than by dry heat with tension treatment. In addition, compared with the conventional viscose fiber, the heat resistance of the regenerated bamboo fiber was slightly lower.