Single Fiber Acoustic Emission and Tensile Properties from Cotton Bundle Fracture Tests

An instrument is developed to detect and analyze the acoustic emission generated during tensile fracture of each of the single fibers in a beard containing 100-150 fibers. The acoustic pulse height and width are recorded coincident with the tensile breaking load and breaking elongation. Ten different varieties of cotton fibers are tested on the instru ment and on standard HVI equipment. There is a nonlinear relationship between the acoustic pulse height and breaking load, as well as between the acoustic pulse energy density and the work of rupture of the fibers. The acoustic pulse energy density is a new datum obtained separately from HVI data, and so it can be used as an additional parameter for classifying cotton fibers.