Micro and Macro Structure of the Cotton Fiber.

 Micro Structure or Morphological Structure of Cotton Fiber

The Cotton fiber is made up of a cuticle, primary cell wall, secondary cell wall and lumen.Here we are going to give you a short description of about how a cotton fiber is made physically.

Description of the micro structure of a cotton fiber:

1. Cuticle : Cuticle is the very outside of a cotton fiber. In one word it is called the skin of the fiber. The cuticle is a wax like film covering the outer wall of the cotton fiber. Its main objective is to prevent the wall from any destruction
2. Primary Cell Wall : The primary cell wall which is immediately underneath the cuticle is about 200 nm thick. It is composed of very fine threads of cellulose, called fibrils. The fibrils spiral at about 70 degree to the fiber axis.
3. Secondary Cell Wall : Beneath the primary cell wall, there is the secondary cell wall, which forms the bulk of the fiber. Its fibrils are about 10 nm thick but of undefined length. Near the primary cell wall, the fibrils of the secondary cell wall spiral at about 20 degree to 30 degree to the fiber axis.
4. Lumen : The hollow canal running the length of the fiber is called the lumen.

Macro Structure of a Cotton Fiber :

• Length : 1 cm to 6.5 cm
• Diameter: 11 um to 22 um
• Convolutions : Sixty per centimeter. (Creamy or brown.)
• Color : Generally White, may be Creamy or Brown.
• Length:Width: 6000:1
• Light reflection: Low lusture, dull.