Textile fibers are natural or synthetic structures that can be spun into yarn.

Yarns are then

woven, knitted or bonded into fabric. Textile Fiber is the smallest unit of a Textile Product. They
have some unique properties. All fibers are not Textile fibers.

Classification of Textile Fibers

Textile Fibers must have the below properties-

 Length to Width Ratio

 Tenacity/ Tensile strength
 Ability to withstand excess temperature and pressure
 Dye ability
 Can be converted to Textile products
 COTTON
Cotton fibers are natural hollow fibers; they are soft, cool, known as breathable fibers and
absorbent. Cotton fibers can hold water 24–27 times their own weight. They are strong, dye
absorbent and can stand up against abrasion wear and high temperature. In one word, cotton is
comfortable.
There are four commercially grown species of cotton, all domesticated in antiquity:

 Gossypium hirsutum – upland cotton, native to Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean
and southern Florida (90% of world production)
 Gossypium barbadense – known as extra-long staple cotton, native to tropical South
America (8% of world production)
 Gossypium arboreum – tree cotton, native to India and Pakistan (less than 2%)
 Gossypium herbaceum – Levant cotton, native to southern Africa and the Arabian
Peninsula (less than 2%)
Hybrid varieties are also cultivated. The two New World cotton species account for the vast
majority of modern cotton production, but the two Old World species were widely used before
the 1900s. While cotton fibers occur naturally in colors of white, brown, pink and green, fears of
contaminating the genetics of white cotton have led many cotton-growing locations to ban the
growing of colored cotton varieties.

Cotton Cultivation
Cotton is a plant that is cultivated for a multitude of purposes and products. Long cotton fibers
are used to make thread, yarn, textiles, clothes and other products, like towels, carpets, sheets,
and more. Clothes made out of cotton are especially light and comfortable. The short fibers can
be used in the paper industry.

Cotton seeds have some important uses, too. Primarily, the seeds are used to produce cottonseed
oil and margarine. The crushed remains of the seed can be used as a high-protein feed for cattle
and other animals. After the cotton is picked, the stalks and leaves of the plants are plowed under
to enrich the soil.

After plowing the soil in spring cotton seeds are planted in rows by hand or machine. About two
months after planting, flower buds called squares appear on the cotton plants.
So the process can be summed up as

Cotton Cultivation Process

 New cotton plants. After plowing the soil in spring cotton seeds are planted in rows by
hand or machine. ...
 Irrigating a Texas cotton field. ...
 Pretty cotton bloom. ...
 Field of cotton ready for harvest. ...
 Cotton picking machine in a Lubbock, Texas field. ...
 Cotton modules lined up in the field

Most cotton in the United States, Europe and Australia is harvested mechanically, either by
a cotton picker, a machine that removes the cotton from the boll without damaging the cotton
plant, or by a cotton stripper, which strips the entire boll off the plant. Cotton strippers are used
in regions where it is too windy to grow picker varieties of cotton, and usually after application
of a chemical defoliant or the natural defoliation that occurs after a freeze. Cotton is a perennial
crop in the tropics, and without defoliation or freezing, the plant will continue to grow.
Cotton continues to be picked by hand in developing countries and in Xinjiang, China, by forced
labor Xinjiang produces over 20% of the world's cotton.

Ginning
the process by which the fibers are separated from the seeds is called ginning. Humans using
cloth for the last seven thousand years. From the beginning, the cotton fiber is manually
processed by hand until the 18th century. After the invention of the automatic ginning machine,
the process becomes so easy.
It is one of the most important steps of the spinning process. After collecting seed cotton from
the field, cotton moves to nearby gins for separation of lint, seed and any other foreign particles.
The production of a typical gin is about 12 bale per hour (here 1 bale = 500 pounds). Earlier the
ginning process was manual but right now for higher production, manufacturers use an
automated machine with higher productivity. The machine is well known as a cotton ginning
machine.
Simply to define ginning we can say that the process is used to get the cleaned cotton by
separating or removing the seeds, dust or any other foreign particles. So that better cotton can be
offered for the cotton spinning mills.

Objects of Ginning

 Make the fiber-free from seeds without gin-cut fiber.

 Ensure the best quality of cotton and get the fair price of cotton in the market.
 To be confident that fiber does not contain excess and unexpected seeds or any other
particles.
 To make the spinning process easier and effective


Cotton Ginning Process

1. At first, the cotton will go through dryers to reduce moisture content.

 2. Then the cotton is to go through cleaning equipment to remove foreign particles or
materials.
3. The cotton is then sent to the air conveyed to gin stands where revolving circular saws
pull the lint from the saw teeth by air blasts or by rotating brushes.
4. Then the cotton will compress into 500 pounds weigh contained bales.
5. Then the bales of cotton are shipped to the textile spinning mill for further processes.
6. A quality control team will monitor the overall process to ensure quality.

Modern Cotton Ginning Process

In an automatic ginning process of cotton, a modern machine is preferable. Before cotton arrives
at the spinning mill to spin into thread and woven into the fabric, it makes the journey from field
to bale. Cotton needs about five months to grow from a planted seed to a ready plant.

 The harvesting machine named cotton picker plucks fluffy seed cotton out of the plant’s
boll and leaves a trail of burrs and sticks behind.
 The machine empties the pulled cotton into a tractor-drawn buggy.
 The machine builds the seed cotton into a humongous rectangular block called a module.

A truck transports the module to the processing plant, which is known as a cotton gin. Once the
cotton arrives at the processing plant, sticks and burrs are removed as well as any lingering
debris and seeds. A truck dumps the module into a feeder, which moves the packed seed cotton
into a dispenser.

Types of Cotton Ginning

There are two basic types of Ginning you may find. These are:

 Saw Ginning
 Roller Ginning

Saw Ginning of Cotton

Saw ginning provides more clean cotton compared with manual or handheld separation process
of seed from cotton.

Advantage of Cotton Saw Ginning

1. Saw ginned cotton is more uniform

2. Cotton is more clean than usual.
The Disadvantage of Cotton Saw Ginning

1. Possibility of fiber breakage due to draw up the fiber from the surface of the seed.
2. Increase neps
3. Increase short fiber content

Roller Ginning of Cotton

Modern ginning is automatic ginning where productivity is maximized. For industrial purposes,
this type of ginning technology is more preferable.

Advantage of Roller Ginning of Cotton

1. Saw ginning ensures the quality of fiber is better which is better than the other process.
2. High production because of the use of advanced technology in the ginning process.

The Disadvantage of Roller Ginning of Cotton

The moisture of seed mixes up with fiber in processing which causes cake cotton fault.

Faults in Ginning Process of Cotton

1. Gin-cut fiber
2. Crushed seeds
3. Neps formation
4. Too much wastage

Characteristics of Cotton Fibers and Products

 Comfortable to wear
 Natural, cellulosic fiber
 Made from the cotton boll
 Absorbs water and “breathes”
 Slow to dry
 Resists static electricity build-up
 Wrinkles easily
 Can withstand heat, detergents, and bleach
 About 20% stronger when wet than dry
 Will shrink unless treated
 Can be damaged by mildew
 Can be damaged by prolonged exposure to sunlight
 Long staple cotton (such a Supima, Pima, Egyptian, and Sea Island) can be woven into
smooth, almost silky fabrics.
 JUTE
Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced
from flowering plants in the genus Corchorus, which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The
primary source of the fiber is Corchorus olitorius, but such fiber is considered inferior to that
derived from Corchorus capsularis. "Jute" is the name of the plant or fiber used to make burlap,
hessian or gunny cloth.
Jute is one of the most affordable natural fibers, and second only to cotton in the amount
produced and variety of uses. Jute fibers are composed primarily of the plant
materials cellulose and lignin. Jute fiber falls into the bast fiber category (fiber collected from
bast, the phloem of the plant, sometimes called the "skin") along with kenaf, industrial
hemp, flax (linen), ramie, etc.. The industrial term for jute fiber is raw jute. The fibers are off-
white to brown, and 1–4 metres (3–13 feet) long. Jute is also called the "golden fiber" for its
color and high cash value.
Jute is one of the important natural fibers after cotton in terms of cultivation and usage.
Cultivation is dependent on the climate, season, and soil. Almost 85% of the world's jute
cultivation is concentrated in the Ganges Delta.
This fertile geographic region is shared by both Bangladesh and India (mainly West
Bengal). China also has a dominating place in jute cultivation. On a smaller
scale, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, Nepal, and Bhutan also cultivate jute.

Jute Cultivation
To grow jute, farmers scatter the seeds on cultivated soil. When the plants are about 15–20 cm
tall, they are thinned out. About four months after planting, harvesting begins. The plants are
usually harvested after they flower, before the flowers go to seed. The stalks are cut off close to
the ground. The stalks are tied into bundles and soaked in water for about 20 days. This process
softens the tissues and breaks the hard [pectin] bond between the bast and [Jute hurd] (inner
woody fiber stick) and the process permits the fibres to be separated. The fibres are then stripped
from the stalks in long strands and washed in clear, running water. Then they are hung up or
spread on thatched roofs to dry. After 2–3 days of drying, the fibres are tied into bundles. The
suitable climate for growing jute is a warm and wet climate, which is offered by the monsoon
climate during the fall season, immediately followed by summer. Temperatures ranging to more
than 25 °C and relative humidity of 70%–90% are favorable for successful cultivation. Jute
requires 160–200 cm of rainfall yearly with extra needed during the sowing period. River basins
or alluvial or loamy soils are best for jute cultivation. Jute cultivation in red soils may require
high dose of manure and pH range between 4.8 and 5.8 is best for its cultivation. Plain land or
gentle slope or low land is ideal for jute cultivation. Since the jute seeds are small in size, land
should be prepared to fine tilling, which can be done by careful ploughing.
Retting is the process of extracting fibers from the long lasting life stem or bast of the bast
fiber plants. The available retting processes are: mechanical retting (hammering), chemical
retting (boiling & applying chemicals), steam/vapor/dew retting, and water or microbial retting.
Among them, the water or microbial retting is a century old but the most popular process in
extracting fine bast fibers. However, selection of these retting processes depends on the
availability of water and the cost of retting process.
To extract fine fibers from jute plant, a small stalk is harvested for pre-retting. Usually, this small
stalk is brought before 2 weeks of harvesting time. If the fiber can easily be removed from the
Jute hurd or core, then the crop is ready for harvesting.
After harvesting, the jute stalks are tied into bundles and submerged in soft running water. The
stalk stays submerged in water for 20 days. However, the retting process may require less time if
the quality of the jute is better. In most cases, the fiber extraction process of bast fibers in water
retting is done by the farmers while standing under water.
When the jute stalk is well retted, the stalk is grabbed in bundles and hit with a long wooden
hammer to make the fiber loose from the jute hurd or core. After loosing the fiber, the fiber is
washed with water and squeezed for dehydration. The extracted fibers is further washed with
fresh water and allowed to dry on bamboo poles. Finally, they are tied into small bundles to be
sold into the primary market.

Applications
Jute products Jute and jute-based products are put to a wide range of uses. Since antiquity it has
been used as a raw material for packaging. Before being used as a commercial commodity it was
used in different parts of the world to make household and farm implements such as ropes,
handmade clothes, wall hangings, etc.
In Bengal sacks and saris made of jute were commonly used in the Middle Age. Export of sacks
started in the 18th century. Its leaves and roots were used as herbal medicine, and as vegetable
by the local people. Its use as an industrial commodity began in the Crimean war when it was
used as a substitute of flax. Its use was popularized primarily in Western Europe, particularly at
Dundee. Traditionally, use of jute products are limited to packaging materials like twine, hessian,
gunny bag, twill, carpet backing, wool pack, tarpaulin, mats, canvas, wall cover, upholstery, and
as furnishing fabrics of different types and natures.

FLAX

Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, Linum usitatissimum, in the
family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate
climate. Textiles made from flax are known in Western countries as linen, and are traditionally
used for bed sheets, underclothes, and table linen. Its oil is known as linseed oil. In addition to
referring to the plant itself, the word "flax" may refer to the unspun fibers of the flax plant. The
plant species is known only as a cultivated plant, and appears to have been domesticated just
once from the wild species Linum bienne, called pale flax. The plants called "flax" in New
Zealand are, by contrast, members of the genus Phormium.
Applications
Flax is grown for its seeds, which can be ground into a meal or turned into linseed oil, a product
used as a nutritional supplement and as an ingredient in many wood-finishing products. Flax is
also grown as an ornamental plant in gardens. Moreover, flax fibers are used to make linen.
The specific epithet, usitatissimum, means "most useful".
Flax fibers taken from the stem of the plant are two to three times as strong as cotton fibers.
Additionally, flax fibers are naturally smooth and straight. Europe and North America both
depended on flax for plant-based cloth until the 19th century, when cotton overtook flax as the
most common plant for making rag-based paper. Flax is grown on the Canadian prairies for
linseed oil, which is used as a drying oil in paints and varnishes and in products such
as linoleum and printing inks.
Linseed meal, the by-product of producing linseed oil from flax seeds, is used as livestock fodder

REFERENCES
 Introduction to Textile Engineering by MD. SAJJAK HOSSAIN
 Textile Learner’s Blog https://textilelearner.net/
 Wikipedia https://www.wikipedia.org/