Indi an Journal or Fibre & T ex til e Research
Vol. 25 , December 2000, pp. 330-332
Book Reviews
PI'ogress in Textiles: Science & Technology,
Vol. 2-Textile Fibres: Developments and
Innovations, edited by V K Kothari (IAFL
Publi cation s, S-3 51, Greater Kailash Part-I,
New De lhi I 10 048, India), 2000, pp . 805,
Price Rs 1995.00
[ISBN: 81-901033-1-8]
Thi s well-written book is th e seco nd In the se ri es
"Progress in Textiles: S c ie nce & Technology" . The
cove rage of th e book is fairly comprehensive and th e
c hapters ha ve been written by e min e nt sc ie nti sts who
are recog nized authorities in the ir own fi e ld s.
Howeve r, o ne noti ces the absence of viscose, silk ,
jute and leaf fibres from the li st of topic s covered.
Deve lopme nt of bivoltine s ilk, tence l, banana fibres
and shingosen has been well documented in th e
literature but th ese have not bee n covered. The book,
it appears, is b iased towards me lt-spun fibres, the ir
mode llin g and modificati ons.
Th e o pe nin g chapter of the boo k is about as c lear
an account of th e trends in textile fibres as can be
written in 10 pages . No uniformity in the units has
been followed in re presentin g the te nacit y of the
fibres. It has bee n e xpressed in gf/tex , cN/tex, g/dtex
and g/den on p.4, p .88, p . 396, and p. 51 8
respectively. It would have been appropriate if a
co mmon unit to re present the te nac ity of textil e fibre
had been used .
Whil e th e c hapte rs on stru c ture of tex til e fibres,
s imulati o n of me lt spinnin g, polypropylene fibres ,
,ic rylic fibres, high-modulus fibres, hi gh-tec hnol ogy
fibres and cotto n fibres are quite co mpre he nsive in
the ir contents, the chapter o n woo l-a unique fibre-is
littl e di sappointing. In the 79 references give n at th e
e nd of th e c hapter, th ere are notabl e omissions of th e
papers and mo nographs , es pec iall y by Chapman (J
Text Inst, 1969) and Feughelman. Th e latte r auth o r's
mo nograp h on th e mec hani cal prope rti es of woo l fibre
published by the Univers ity of New South Wal es,
Austra li a, is a s ignifi ca nt co ntributi on.
Some se nte nces suc h as " Wool is basicall y a
member of a g ro up of pro te in s called Keratin " o n
page 767 are ve ry vag ue. It should be oc -Ke ratin.
Erroneous statement s of facts , espec iall y in this
chapter, are too numerou s.
It is to be expected that in a book of ove r 700
pages, so me typographi ca l e rro rs would escape the
notice of the proofreader, but it is sin gul arl y
unfortunate that the re are man y spe llin g mi stakes in
the names of authors in refere nces. In the contents,
th e re is a g larin g mistake on page ix . Architect ure is
mentioned as architechture.
Stress re laxation of woo l fibres d isc ussed o n page
781 is based on a paper publi shed in 1936 while the re
are recent papers on it ; th e effect of heat on wool has
not been di scussed.
There is a notabl e omission of th e work of Hearle
and Sparrow on convolutions and of Zeronian in the
c hapte r on structure and prope rty re lations of nat ive
cotton fibres. Th e chapter o n naturally col o ured
cotton is a very use ful contribution, as it dea ls w ith
the prospects of it.
Despite the above shortcomings, th e book will be
useful to stude nts and resea rc h wo rke rs. Th e printing
and get up a re exce ll e nt and comparabl e to th ose of
the books published abroad. The price is reasonable.
V SUB RAMAN l AM
Department or Textilc Technology
Alagappa Co ll ege ol' Technology
Anna Uni versity
Chcnnai 600025
Jute amI" Jute Blended Yarn Spinning by Indira
Doraiswa my and K P Chellamani (Th e South Indi a
T ex til e Resea rc h Association, Coimbatore 641 014,
Indi a) , 2000, pp. 95
The book und e r revi ew essenti a ll y attempts to put
at one place the information obta ined from the studies
conducted at SlTRA durin g the pas t 8 years. Th e
book co ntain s JO chapters and 3 appe ndi ces. The first
3 chapters dea l with cult ivatio n, physica l and
c he mi cal properties of jute and method s to e nhan ce its
spinnin g value. Chapters 4 and 5 are de voted to
tec hno logy and eco nomics of sp inning jute blended
yarn s. The economic viabi lit y of converting an
existin g sma ll co tto n spin nin g mill into a jute/cotton
spinnin g unit has a lso bee n examined. Essent ial
feat ures of a hi g h rin g frame de ve lo ped by SITRA for
spinnin g fin e jute yarns toge ther with its pe rforman ce
 BOOK REVIEW
while uSll1 g diffe rent qualiti es of jute are g ive n In
chapter 6.
Chapt er 7, the largest in the book , dea ls exc lu sive ly
with th e tec hnol ogy and eco nomics of manufacturin g
100% jute ya rn s in mini jute mills . It illu strates th e
detai ls of project cos t, cost of producti on and profit.
D eve lopment of fin e quality j ute has bee n disc ussed
in chapter 8. Quality attributes of yarns spu n usin g
j ute/cotton bl e nd s together with the advantages that
can be accru ed whi le usin g fine jute fibres (JRC-3 2I )
wi nd up this chapter. Chapte r 9 on marketin g
potenti a l of jute and jute bl e nded yarn s is excell ent. It
enli ts fe w dive rs ifi ed product that cou ld be macl e
out of jute and jute blended yarns and g ives
information o n the ir main fi e ld s o f application. The
possibilit y of us in g j ute sti c k o r jute fibre for th e
manufac ture of rayo n grade pulp is given in chapter
10. The reader should find the in formation inte res tin g
and of practical a nd use . Of the 3 appe ndices, o ne
deals with the tec hnical aspects of the machines
fabricated by SITRA for jute/cotton bl end s spinn in g,
w hil e the ot he r two dea l with the sp innin g plan and
process in g details .
In general, the book is very informative, but th e re
are some inconsi ste nc ies and casual approach which
could have been avoided wit h careful plann in g of the
subject matter. The units are mis sin g at so me places ,
e .g. waste and wages (page 20) . In c hapters 4 and 5,
the tec hn o-econom ics worked out for 8 and lONe
ya rn s are projected on gene ral ized basis. W hil e it
would serve as a broad guide lin e for entrepre ne urs,
one shoul d work it out precise in deta il using actu al
data. Additional information on yarn faults and
proble ms assoc iated with sp innin g of jute blended
ya rn s could have further enhan ced the scope of th e
book.
Desp ite these minor de ficiencies , the book should
prove immensely useful to the en treprene urs des irou s
to manufacture jute blended yarns.
G K fYAGI
The TechnologicallnSlilutc of Textile & Sciences
Bhiwani 127 021
Yarns and Tech ni cal Textiles by K P Chella mani
and Debasis Chattopadhyay (The South India
Textile Research Assoc iation, Coimbatore 641014),
1999, pp. 125
This SITRA publication deals with the manufacture
of 12 different types of non-conventional yarns and 8
33 1
tec hni ca l text il e app li catio ns . From the po int of view
of technicians working in Indian Textile lndu stry
w hi ch is passi ng throu g h a critical phase and facin g
intense competi ti on in both domesti c and inte rnatio nal
markets , thi s book provides useful introduction to the
various possibilities of product diversificati on.
Products covered in th e book inc lude co re spun yarns ,
me lange yarns, fancy yarns, wo rsted and siro ya rn s in
cotton sys tem, compact spinning, compos ite spi nni ng,
acryl ic-cotton bl e nded yarns , s in ged yarns ,
mercerized yarns a nd va ri o us tec hni ca l tex til es.
Product defin ition , manufacturin g process, properties
and applicati on ha ve been bri efly di sc ussed in mos t
c ases and some usefu l data have been provided. In
many cases, however, too brief introduction has been
provided and e rrors have been allowed to go throu g h.
In vie w of the dive rse range of products covered in
the book , callin g it a monograph is a mi snomer. Tn
sp ite of these shortcom in gs, th e book wi ll be useful
fo r industry lookin g for value-added products in vi ew
of over capacity and inte nse competit io n in th e area of
conve ntional yarns and fabrics .
V K KOTHARI
Department of Textile Techn ology
Indian Institute of Techn ology
I-Iauz Khas , New Delhi 110 0 16.
A Text Book of Fibre Science and Technology by
S P Mishra (New Age Intern ati o na l Pvl. Ltd, New
De lhi I 10 002), 2000, pp. 363 , Price Rs 250.00
[ISBN: 8 1-224-1250-5]
Th is recently published book c la ims to focus on the
fun damentals of natural and man-made fibres and
systematically expla in their ex tracti o n/prod ucti on ,
structure, properties and uses. It is further stated th at
the book will serve as a basic text for both dipl o ma
and degree students of a ll textil e discip lines . It will
also serve as a useful reference for resea rc he rs a nd
professionals engaged in this area. Thus , the book is
des igned to cover a very wide area for a very large
clientele.
To make the process of rev iew manageable, we will
begi n by e xam in in g the ne~ ds of stu de nts reg istered
for a degree in any textile discipli ne in the broad area
of textile fibres and the science and tec hn o logy of
these fibres. In their under-graduate years, these
students are expected to take Text il e Fib res as a core
course while most of them would also take a course
on Fibre Science (or S tructure and Properti es ot
332 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES ., DECEMBER 2000
Fibres) and some of the m may tak e another course o n
Man-made Fibre Produc tion (or M anufactured Fibre
T ec hn o logy). As th e name impli es, a course on
Textil e Fibres w ill be ex pected to deal with individual
fibre types (both natura l and man-m ade), in parti cul ar
wi th the ir c he mi stry and formation, stru cture,
properti es and application s. Th e course on Fibre
Sc ience, o n the othe r hand, is ex pected to dea l with
the unde rl yin g principl es of importa nt phenomena and
properti es of fibres rathe r than w ith a ll aspects of all
fib res . [Warne r Steve n B, Fiber Science (Pre nti ce
Hall , New Je rsey, USA), 1995, P v]. Thus , F ibre
Scie nce s ho uld idea lly dea l with the c he mi stry and
c he mical stru ctures of these fibres, the meth ods of
inves ti ga tin g physica l stru cture and the fu nda me ntal s
of mec ha ni ca l, opti ca l, th ermal , e lec tri ca l, mo isture
tran sport and che mi ca l prope rti es and th e i r stru ctura l
dependence . F in a ll y, a course on Man-m ade Fibre
Producti o n s hould deal with th e ex trusion (spinning),
draw in g a nd heat-set tin g of man ufactured fibres and
oth er aspects re lated to fibre formati o n.
Aga in st thi s backdrop, it is notewo rth y that thi s 360
plu s-page book sta rts w ith a 10-page introd ucti o n
fo ll o wed by 20 pages de voted to a ge ne ral discu ss ion
o f fibre formati o n (producti on) and anothe r 20 pages
to fibre stru cture; the rest of the boo k (i.e. more than
300 pages) is ma inly fibre-spec ific, tak in g indi vidual
fibre types o ne by o ne and describing the ir
produ cti o n, structure, prope rti es and a ppli cati o ns. It
wou ld thu s appear that thi s is primarily a book on
Textile Fi bres rathe r th an on Fibre Sc ie nce or on Fibre
Scie nce and T ec hn o logy. This is quite ev ident o n
pe ru sa l o f various c hapte rs of thi s boo k. However, a
few spec ific co mme nts wou ld be in orde r.
W e start with Chapte rs 2 a nd 3 w hi c h are o f a
gene ra l nature a nd not fibre specific. Takin g ph ys ica l
c haracteri zati o n tec hniques fi rst, as desc ribed in
Chapter 3 o n Fibre S truc ture, the impo rta nt topi c of x-
ray diffrac ti o n gets coverage of less than 2 pages.
T hough it is stated that Fig. 3 .3 (a) s hows the incident
and diffracted x-ray beams, these are actually not
shown in the fig ure. Th e result is that th e stude nt will
not be abl e to unde rstand the underly in g princ ipl e of
x-ray diffrac tio n. We nex t consid er thermal me th ods
which are covered in one page. F ig. 3.4 shows DSC
the rmograms o f a semi-crystallin e PET. Nei ther a re
the c haracte ri sti c features of the the rmogra m
described no r is the structura l o ri gin o f diffe re nt peaks
ex plain ed . The discussion on birefrin gence gets one
page. There is no me ntion as to how bire frin gence is
measured . There is littl e on physi cal pro pe rti es with
creep, stress re laxati on, d ynamic mec hani ca l
properties and load-e lon gat ion be hav io ur o r in deed
viscoelasti c c haracte ri sti cs of fibres receivin g hard ly
a ny attention . Th e gene ral princ ipl es of fibre stru cture
and crysta lli zati o n also get in adeq uate cove rage. As
far as man-made fibre produc ti o n o r process in g is
conc erned , as described in C hapter 2 on Fib re
Formati o n, the fundam e nta ls have aga in not been
co vered , e.g. e lon gational viscos ity is not eve n
mentioned.
By and large, individu a l tex til e fibres have received
adequ ate attention . However, be in g a tex tboo k, mu c h
more attention should have bee n paid to acc uracy of
the state me nts made and data presented and to the
se nte nce constru ction and gramma r. The
sho rtcomi ngs in these a reas a re too nume rous to li st
he re; on ly two o f th e m will be give n as illu strati on.
On page 3 1, it is stated th at " the draw rati o de notes
th e diffe re nces between the de livery ro ll er ve loc it y
( Vu) and the feed roll e r ve locity (VI)'" w hi ch is no t th e
same as Vd/Vr. On page 8 1, the mec hani sm of
moisture absorpti o n in cotton fibres is incorrec tl y
stated .
In conc lu s io n, fo r those wh o are keen to lea rn about
spec ific fibre syste ms, this book can be useful
prov ided so me of th e statemen ts made a nd data
provided a re co rrected or improved a nd the title of th e
book is c hanged to re fl ect it co ntent s mo re
ap pro priate ly .
V B GUPT A
Departmcnt of Texti le Techn ology
Indian Institut c of Technology
Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016