Index

 ABSTRACT
 MATERIALS AND CHEMICALS
REQUIRED
 PROCEDURE
 OBSERVATION TABLE
 RESULT
 PRECAUTIONS
 BIBILIOGRAPHY
 Tensile Strength Of
Fibers
Depending upon the sources, the various types of
fibers can be classified into the following main three
categories:
 Animal Fibers
 Vegetable Fibers
 Synthetic fibers

Besides their chemical

composition and properties, most
important property of these fibers is their tensile
strength, meaning the extent to which a fiber can be
stretched without breaking and
it is measured in terms of
minimum weight required to
break the fiber. To determine
the tensile strength of nay
fiber, it is tied to a hook at one end and
weights are slowly added to the other end until the
fiber breaks.
Since peptide bonds are more
easily hydrolyzed by bases than
by acids, therefore wool and
silk are affected by bases and
not by acids.
It is because of this reason that wool and silk threads
breakup into fragments and ultimately dissolves in
alkalines.
In other words, alkalines
decrease the tensile
strength of animal fibers
(wool and silk), vegetable
fibers (cotton and linen), on
the
other hand, consist of long
polysaccharide chains in which
the various glucose units are
joined by ethers linkage. Since
ethers are hydrolyzed
by acids and not by bases, therefore vegetable fibers
are affected by acids but not by bases. In other
words, acids decrease the tensile strength of
vegetable fibers. In contrast, synthetic fibers such as
nylon and polyester practically remain unaffected by
both acids and bases. Synthetic fibers owe some of
their chemical resistance to their more 'crystalline'
structure, i.e., there is greater
regularity in the molecular
structure, and this regularity
reduces the ability of bases or
acids to approach the amide
bonds to initiate a hydrolytic reaction.
 Materials &
Chemicals Required

Weight Hanger & Hook

Weights

Sodium
Dilute Hydrochloric
Hydroxide
Acid
Solution
Silk Cotton

Nylon
 procedure
 Cut out equal lengths of a cotton fiber, nylon fiber
and silk fiber from the given sample.
 Tie one end of cotton fiber to a hook which has
been fixed in a vertical plane. Tie a weight hanger
to the other end. Let the thread get straight.
 Put a weight to the hanger and observe the thread
stretch. Then, increase the weights gradually on
the hanger until the breaking point is reached.
Then note the minimum weight needed for
breaking the cotton fiber.
 Repeat the above experiment by tying nylon and
silk fibers to the hook separately and determine
the tensile strength of each fiber.
 Soak the woolen thread in a dilute solution of
sodium hydroxide for five minutes. Take it out
from hydroxide solution and wash it thoroughly
with water and then dry by keeping it in the sun.
Determine the tensile strength again.
 Now take another piece of woolen thread of the
same size and diameter and soak it in a diluter
solution of hydrochloric acid for five minutes.
Take it out, wash thoroughly with water, dry and
determine the tensile strength agin.
 Repeat the above procedure for the samples of
cotton and nylon fiber.
 Observation Table

S.No. Type Wt. Required Wt. Required To Wt. Required To

Of To Break The Break The Fiber Break The Fiber
Fibre Untreated Fiber After Soaking In After Soaking In
Dil. HCl NaOH Solution
1. Wool

2. Cotton

3. Nylon
 Result
 The tensile strength of woolen fiber decreases in
alkalies but practically remains unaffected on
soaking in acids.
 The tensile strength of cotton fiber decreases on
soaking in acids but remains practically unaffected
on soaking in alkalies.
 The tensile strength of nylon fibers remain
practically unaffected on soaking either in acids or
in alikalies.
 Precautions

 The threads must be of identical diameters.

 The length of the threads should always be same.
 The weights should be added in small amounts very
slowly.
 The chemicals should be handled very carefully.
 Bibliography
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