#5: Research Initiatives- Eva Serrato

Blog 5:  Research Initiatives

INT 323

Eva Serrato

    Sometimes when identifying fiber, it can be difficult to tell what kind of fiber it is. One way that fiber can be identified if by a series of burn tests. These tests take a little bit of a fiber and hold it to a flame that catches the fiber and then sees how the fiber burns. Each fiber has its own properties and characteristics when it burns. For example, cotton burns but it does not melt, and the residue left after it burns is a fine gray ash. Wool burns but it does not melt, and the residue left is a crushed black powder. In other words, most natural protein fibers burn and do not melt while producing some sort of fine ash once they are burned. Artificial cellulosic fibers such as, polyester, nylon, and acrylic all shrink melts and while creating a hard melted bead after it is burned. 

Fiber Burn Test

    Bamboo fiber is a great natural fiber that come from the earth. Bamboo is sustainable in the way they harvest the bamboo by making the cuts in the bamboo as clean as possible so the bamboo can regenerate and create more. The first step in making bamboo is harvesting the bamboo. 

    As displayed above, loads of bamboo sticks and trees are harvested then cut up into tiny wood chips. The wood chips are then soaked in a "global organic textile standard approved soaking liquid." Then ones the wood chips soaked they extract the bamboo pulp and create sheets of the bamboo. Then they grind up the sheets into fine pieces of bamboo and spin them into bamboo yarn. 

    Cotton is one of the most commonly used material around the world. places like Tennessee and other southern states are the main farmers and producers of cotton for America. The process of farming and manufacturing cotton is simple. First, cotton is planted in April. The soil must be warm enough to ensure the cotton will grow. While the cotton plant grows first the plant will bud a white or yellow flower then turn pink, then finally fall off. The next few weeks the cotton will finally bud and dry out to show the white field that tells the farmers it is time to be harvested. When harvesting the cotton, a machine goes throughout the field and is placed in a bin. Then the cotton is stored and smashed into a huge block. Then the cotton is placed through a gin that separated the cotton and the cotton seed. The seeds are then given to the animals for food and the cotton is compacted into a bail that gets packaged and shipped to textile companies. 

Modern Cotton Gin

Resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2RyE7i0sCk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cElGZ4WF5Fs  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAUQNMldp_Y