Evaluation of cotton fibers stickiness by colorimetric method

Stickiness is the physical process of contaminated lint adhering to equipment. The degree of stickiness depends on chemical identity, quantity, and distribution of the sugars. The sugar in cotton fibers may be insect or plant derived. There are several methods for measuring cotton fibers stickiness. In this work, a colorimetric method was used for the measurements. In the method, honeydew was caramelized by heating cotton fibers, which caused the color of the honeydew to change from pale/colorless to yellow and brown. Heating did not cause any discoloration or change in cotton fibers. Then the yellow index b was used for determining the cotton fibers stickiness. There are high correlation and agreement between results of colorimetric, thermodetector and sugar content method. The colorimetric method is a semi-quantitative and high speed method.