Oxidized Hemp Fibers with Simultaneously Increased Capillarity and Reduced Moisture Sorption as Suitable Textile Material for Advanced Application in Sportswear

Applications of hemp fibers, as a promising natural material in the textile field, mostly require improved fiber properties. In this paper, the oxidation of hemp fibers with potassium permanganate was applied to reduce the amount of non-cellulosic substances and moisture sorption; to introduce functional groups and increase capillarity; make fibers finer, softer and suitable for application in sport wears. The changes in sorption properties were characterized by capillary rise measurement and the ability of water retention and moisture sorption, while changes in mechanical properties were estimated by determination of tenacity and elongation of modified hemp fibers in comparison to the appropriate characteristic of unmodified fibers. ATR-FTIR, SEM techniques, and zeta potential measurement were used for the characterization of fiber structure, morphological and electrokinetic properties. We obtained a finer fiber with increased capillarity (up to 3.68 times) but reduced moisture sorption (down to 1.5 times) and water retention capacity (down to 2.8 times), with accomplished satisfactory preservation of mechanical properties. Obtained oxidized hemp fibers with attained features present a very suitable material for sportswear production. Additionally, in this paper, an improvement of the capillary rise measurement is given.