Which is better, blended or pure cotton? What is the difference between cotton and blends? Each fabric has its own merits, and it is not possible to say which is better or worse; blended represents a mixture of different types of fibers. Blends are a little more wrinkle-resistant than cotton.

Identification method

Blended chemical fabrics are textile products made from a mixture of chemical fibers and other natural fibers such as cotton, wool, silk, and linen—for example, polyester-cotton fabric, polyester-wool wada tweed, etc. For instance, polyester-cotton blends are textiles woven from 65%-67% polyester and 33%-35% cotton blended yarns with polyester as the main ingredient. Polyester-cotton cloth is commonly known as “cotton does cool.” Features: Both highlight the style of polyester and the strengths of cotton fabric; in dry and wet conditions, elasticity and wear resistance are better, size stability, shrinkage is minor, with a straight, not easy to wrinkle, easy to wash, fast dry characteristics, can not be ironed with high temperature and boiling water immersion.

When we buy clothes, we often see the hang tags on the material written blended cotton, buy some pure cotton clothing will also have some businesses use blended cotton instead. What is blended cotton? What is the difference between it and pure cotton? Today I will explain the knowledge of blended cotton.

Some unscrupulous traders use lower-cost pure chemical fibers or blended materials to pass themselves off as cotton products. If consumers can master some identification methods, they can avoid being duped. The most straightforward and most direct method is to feel the visual inspection. If the raw material is a loose fiber state, such as cotton lint, it can be based on the appearance of the fiber form, color, feel and hand pull strength to determine. Natural cotton fibers are slim and soft, very short in length, poorly neat, and with various colors and blemishes.

In contrast, chemical fibers are generally neater, longer in length, pure in color, and unnatural in luster. The cotton products feel typically perfect if the textile has been made, relatively soft, especially knitted products. Compared with woven products, they are more delicate and grab a handful of more apparent folds. In contrast, the addition of chemical fibers to the cotton products is more rigid, with almost no folds. Except for specially treated mercerized cotton, cotton textiles are not smooth to the touch, not as smooth as polyester, blends, and other products. The color is usually natural and straightforward, without the unique luster of silk chemical fibers. Another more common method is the burning method. Yarn can be removed from the edge of the textile and lit for observation to determine if it is a cotton weave. Fibers such as cotton, which has cellulose as its main component, burn quickly when in contact with a flame and can continue to burn after leaving the flame, giving off the smell of burning paper and leaving a small amount of off-white ash after burning. Protein fibers such as wool burn with a smell like burning hair and leave black, brittle ash. Synthetic fibers can also burn in a fire, but instead of burning rapidly, they melt and shrink when close to the flame, leaving a hard ball-like residue after burning. 

In addition to this, you can also use microscopic observation, drug coloring, chemical reagent dissolution, chemical melting point determination, infrared spectroscopy, and various other methods to identify whether the textile is pure cotton material. Still, these require a professional with special equipment to do so. In addition, the benefits of cotton are that it is made from natural materials, breathable, sweat-absorbent, and does not have static electricity.

Cotton advantages

① Moisture absorption

Cotton fibers have good moisture absorption. Under normal circumstances, the fibers can absorb moisture into the surrounding atmosphere. Its moisture content is 8-10%, so it touches people’s skin to feel soft and not stiff. Suppose the cotton humidity increases. The surrounding temperature is higher. In that case, the amount of water contained in the fibers will all evaporate and dissipate so that the fabric remains in a state of water balance, making people feel comfortable.

② Warmth

Because cotton fiber is a poor conductor of heat and electricity, the coefficient of heat transfer is extremely low, and because cotton fiber itself has porous, high elasticity advantages, between the fibers can accumulate a lot of air, air and is a poor conductor of heat and electricity, so, cotton fiber textiles have good moisture, wearing cotton woven clothing so that people feel warm.

③ Heat resistance

Cotton fabrics heat resistance is good, at 110 ℃ below, will only cause the evaporation of water on the fabric, will not damage the fiber, so cotton fabrics at room temperature, wearing the use, washing printing, and dyeing, etc. on the fabric are not affected, thus improving the cotton fabrics washable and wearable taking performance.

④ alkali resistance

Cotton fiber resistance to alkali, the cotton fiber in alkali solution, the fiber does not damage the phenomenon, the performance is conducive to taking after the pollution of the washing, disinfection in addition to impurities, but also on cotton textiles for dyeing, printing and a variety of technological processes to produce more cotton-weaving new varieties.

⑤ Hygiene

Cotton fiber is a natural fiber. Its main component is cellulose. There are a small amount of wax-like substances and nitrogenous substances, and pectin. Cotton fabric by many checks and practice, woven fabrics and skin contact without any stimulation, no side effects, long wear on the human body is beneficial and harmless, good hygiene performance.

Cotton Disadvantages

1. easy to wrinkle, and wrinkles are more difficult to smooth out after.

2. Easy to shrink, cotton clothing shrinkage rate is 2% to 5%, after special processing or washing treatment exception.

3. easy to deformation, lack of elasticity, cotton clothing will be easy to deformation, especially summer clothing because the fabric is relatively thin.

4. Easy to stick lint, difficult to remove completely.

5. Acid resistance, especially afraid of acid