Application of Scanning Electron Microscopy and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to Study Surface Design and Chemical Group Components of Merino Wool, Paschmina and Angora Fibers

Textile fibrous materials are used for making fashion utility products in day to day use. These fibers find applications in polymer blends,composites, fiber reinforce plastics, bio-medical textiles and many such high end uses. However, fibers like merino wool, pashmina and angora fibers are some of the natural animal fibers which are obtained in nature and find wide applications if converted into usable fashion products.These natural fibers are characterized with specific microstructure which can be tapped to design and create innovative fashion products. The importance of understanding these surface and micro-structures helps in designing and engineering a particular fashion product in textile science and engineering. In his study we look into the finer detail application of SEM used to characterize the surface, inter surface and other dynamic properties of these fibers. Scanning electron microscope has the capability to image these fiber surfaces at different magnifications which thus facilitates the observations to be examined at varying conditions of usage. These SEM images also gives insight into the steps that can be used to manipulate the process and product development steps used for textile materials. On the other hand spectral analysis using Infra-red spectroscopy gives broad information on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of these fibers. FTIR helps in elucidation and identification of chemical groups and interfer structure property relationship of these natural fibers which are obtained from animal source.