Industrial Crops and Products 21 (2005) 275–284 Physical and chemical properties of flax fibres from stand-retted crops desiccated at different stages of maturity Sandra Sampaio ∗ , David Bishop, Jinsong Shen Department of Textile Design and Production, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK Received 4 December 2003; accepted 2 April 2004 Abstract Dessication of flax at the mid-point of flowering, followed by stand-retting and high-speed decortication, yielded finer, stronger fibres with lower acid-insoluble lignin content and lighter colour than desiccation at later timings of two weeks after mid-flower and six weeks after mid-flower. Although fibres from all desiccation timings could be carded and blended with wool for spinning on woollen or worsted spinning systems, only the fine fibre from the earliest desiccated flax was suitable for carding, drawing, blending with cotton and spinning on cotton-processing systems. It was concluded that the lower lignin content at mid-flower allowed more complete retting of fibre bundles to give a higher yield of fine elementary fibres. This cotton-compatible fibre was produced at a competitive cost compared with cotton. It is suggested that further optimisation of desiccation timing may permit increased yields of cotton-compatible fibre. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Fibre fineness; Tenacity; Lignin-content; Cotton-compatibility 1. Introduction 1.1. Background The world market for textile fibres is of the order of 55 million tonnes per annum and, in recent years, has been growing at a rate of about 2.5% per annum through the effects of population growth and the in- creasing per capita consumption of textile fibres in developing economies (Coker, 1990; Johnson, 1996). Cotton accounts for about 50% of world fibre pro- ∗ Corresponding author. Present address: Loteamento S. Sebastiao 18, Oleiros/Rilheira, 4730-320 Vila Verde, Portugal, Fax: +39-02-2362788. E-mail address: sandrasampaio@hotmail.com (S. Sampaio). duction and although some further increase is still possible, especially through more widespread ex- ploitation of G.M. cotton, this will not meet demand indefinitely. In the future there will, therefore, be an increasing need for alternative fibres that are compat- ible with existing, cotton-based, textile manufacturing technologies and that are competitive on price and quality. In the short-to-medium-term, this need will con- tinue to be met by polyester fibre (from petrochemi- cal feedstocks) and regenerated cellulosic fibres (from wood cellulose). In the longer term, however, a contin- ual increase in the production of these alternatives is regarded as environmentally unacceptable, and other fibres, from renewable sources, are already under con- sideration. 0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2004.04.001