Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Fabricating Cotton Analytical Devices
Published on: August 30, 2016
Microfibers generated from the laundering of cotton, rayon and polyester based fabrics and their aquatic
Marielis C Zambrano1, Joel J Pawlak1, Jesse Daystar2
1Department of Forest Biomaterials, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8005, United States.
Abstract:
The effect of fiber type (cotton, polyester, and rayon), temperature, and use of detergent on the number of microfibers released during laundering of knitted fabrics were studied during accelerated laboratory washing (Launder-Ometer) and home laundering experiments. Polyester and cellulose-based fabrics all shed significant amounts of microfibers and shedding levels were increased with higher water temperature and detergent use. Cellulose-based fabrics released more microfibers (0.2-4 mg/g fabric) during accelerated laundering than polyester (0.1-1 mg/g fabric). Using well-controlled aquatic biodegradation experiments it was shown that cotton and rayon microfibers are expected to degrade in natural aquatic aerobic environments whereas polyester microfibers are expected to persist in the environment for long periods of time.
Related Concept Videos
Types of Step-Growth Polymers: Polyesters
Polyesters are commonly prepared from terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol; the crude product is known as poly(ethylene terephthalate) or PET. However, polyesters are synthesized industrially by transesterification of dimethyl terephthalate with ethylene glycol at 150 °C. The two reactants and the polymer...
DC Generator
Generation Time
Next-generation Sequencing
Next-Generation Sequencing Methods
Although all next-generation methods use different technologies, they all share a set of standard features....
Generator Voltage Control
Generation of Three-Phase Voltage
As the rotor...

