Crystallite shape, dielectric constant and functional data analysis of various cotton fibres using WAXS data

Abstract

Four different varieties of cotton fibres have been used for X-ray diffraction study using in-house programs. X-ray data have been corrected for instrumental broadening and Lorentz polarization factors before using them for further analysis. Using Peakfit® program, 13-15 Bragg reflections are identified and cell parameters are determined by CHECKCELL^®. Full width at half maxima (FWHM) of these reflections are used to estimate the crystallite size and strain along [hkl] directions. Using these results and employing a novel method, a 3-dimensional image of the crystallite shapes in these cotton fibres are computed. Employing Lorenz-Mie theory of scattering of electromagnetic radiation by molecules embedded in dielectric spheres, the dielectric constant of cellulose along amorphous region has been computed. This technique can be extended to any material of interest. Correlation among varieties of fibres and each physical parameter like crystallite size, strain, tenacity and staple length have been investigated using functional analysis, which shows the correlation between physical parameters with varieties of cotton fibres.