ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is working on a standard test for cotton research laboratories, cotton merchants and spinners and regulatory bodies.
The test method (WK75782) focuses on cotton fibers from a loose, chemically untreated sample taken before harvest, during ginning, during mill processing, or unraveled from raw yarn or fabric.
“The cross-sectional properties of cotton fibers are important across the cotton supply chain from breeding through to textile production and fabric appearance,” said Stuart Gordon, team leader at CSIRO Agriculture and Food. “A standard such as this that provides direct and quick assessment of a cotton fiber sample’s properties has been a long-held ambition of the international cotton industry.”
Because the examination can be applied to fibers unraveled from yarn in a textile, the standard also has application in the forensic examination of textiles for quality assurance and identification purposes.
This effort directly relates to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #12 on responsible consumption and production, according to the standards organization, which develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services.