Mercerising

Abstract

WHEN cotton hairs are treated with a concentrated solution of sodium hydroxide in the cold, they combine with alkali and undergo a remarkable series of changes. The cellulose swells in such a way that the flattened cross-section becomes elliptical, with fairly complete disappearance of the lumen, and lateral swelling is accompanied by a decrease in length. Such phenomena, and the increased affinity for dyes of the alkali-treated hairs, as well as their increased strength, were first observed by a Lancashire chemist, John Mercer, in 1844-1850. After an interval of some thirty years, Mercer's observations were turned to practical advantage in the manufacture of crepes, but the mercerizing process proper did not come into being until 1890, when a twenty-year-old chemist, Horace Lowe, discovered that cotton acquires a greatly increased lustre when the hairs are tensioned so as to prevent shrinkage during the caustic soda treatment.

Mercerising

By J. T. Marsh. Pp. xv + 458 + 56 plates. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1941.) 32s. net.