Today, the preparation is underway for the establishment of the Moutan Innovation and Industrial Development Strategy Alliance. Academicians and experts in the field, including Yao Mu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Xu Wenying, vice president of the China Textile Industry Association, Zhu Beina, president of the China Cotton Textile Industry Association, An Chengxin, director of the China Desertification Control Foundation, Wang Fumei, a professor at Donghua University, are all involved. Enterprises such as Jin Kola Apparel Co., Ltd. and Ji Hua Company also actively support this initiative. Establishing a strategic industrial development alliance is significant for developing textile products using natural kapok fibers and promoting the rapid growth of the kapok industry. After more than eight years of technological research and exploration, the kapok industry is about to enter a phase of vigorous development.
Shanghai Pandah Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd. is one of the earliest domestic companies engaged in kapok textiles and kapok cultivation. Its founder Yan Guoxin, along with Donghua University and the Shanghai Textile Science Research Institute, has collaborated on the application and technological development of kapok series materials, applying for seven invention patents. They successfully developed new spinning technology, rewriting the conclusion that kapok is only suitable as a filler and not ideal for spinning. Their kapok spinning technology was evaluated by authoritative experts from institutions like the China Textile Industry Association and Donghua University, who found that some of the technologies filled gaps in the world market. In October 2008, this technology won the sole gold award in the textile category at the China International Invention Exhibition. Shanghai Pandah Group successfully spun ring-spun and air-jet spun yarns using kapok fibers and established a kapok tree plantation base in Gejiu, Yunnan, laying the foundation for large-scale and scientific development of the kapok industry.
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Kapok fiber is the fruit fiber of the kapok tree, a woody plant, attached to the inner wall of the kapok capsule shell, developed and grown from the inner wall cells. The fiber's adhesion to the fruit is weak, so no special primary processing equipment is usually needed; simply shaking a sieve can separate the seeds, yielding kapok fibers. Kapok fiber is a natural cellulose fiber, belonging to the same single-cell fiber family as cotton but possessing several unique characteristics: its fineness is only half that of cotton, yet its hollow rate reaches over 86%, which is 2-3 times higher than regular cotton fibers. This means that kapok underwear is lighter, thinner, and offers better thermal insulation compared to garments made from conventional fibers. The length of kapok fibers is relatively short, ranging from 8mm to 34mm, with mid-section diameters between 20μm to 45μm and linear density of 0.9~1.2 dtex. In terms of strength and elongation, kapok fibers have low strength and limited elongation capacity. The average breaking strength per single fiber is 1.4~1.7cN, with a specific strength of 0.8~1.3cN/dtex, and the breaking elongation is 1.5%~3.0%.
Due to its short length, low strength, smooth surface, high relative rotational stiffness, and poor cohesion, spinning kapok fibers is challenging, resulting in lower quality spun yarns. These features make it difficult to spin kapok fibers alone using methods traditionally used for cotton or wool. For a long time, due to issues related to yield and processability, kapok fibers were only used for low-grade padding products, limiting their exploitation in the textile industry.
Kapok fibers are known as "plant soft gold" and are currently the finest, lightest, most hollow, and best-insulating natural fiber material. After more than eight years of research and development, the application of kapok fibers in the textile field has become increasingly widespread. As a new type of ecological textile material, under conditions of tight fiber material resources, the promotion and utilization of kapok fibers have garnered more attention.
In recent years, with the development of new spinning technologies, thanks to the efforts of researchers, the spinning technology for kapok fibers has seen continuous breakthroughs.
Additionally, kapok fibers have better moisture absorption than cotton fibers, with a standard moisture regain of 10%~10.73%. Their average refractive index is 1.718, slightly higher than the average refractive index of cotton fibers at 1.596. Kapok fibers exhibit good acid and alkali resistance, showing no effects from dilute acids or weak alkalis at room temperature. Kapok fibers come in white, yellow, and brown-yellow colors and can be dyed with direct dyes.
Professor Wang Fumei from Donghua University has been conducting kapok technology research and development for eight years. According to her, kapok fibers are naturally ultra-fine and highly hollow fibers, with a fiber hollow degree of 86%, far exceeding other fibers. They possess characteristics such as being clean, antibacterial, mothproof, mold-resistant, soft, non-tangling, water-impermeable, and heat-insulating, finding broad applications in industries such as aviation, medicine, textiles, papermaking, and construction. Plant soft gold has unique properties.