The investigation of the process of thermal decomposition of cotton fibers grown from gamma-irradiated seeds

It was shown that the process of thermal destruction of cotton (variety 108-F) grown from non-irradiated and gamma irradiated seeds occurs in two stages with activation energies E1=30+-2 kcal/mol, and E2=41+-2 kcal/mol. The low value of E1 during the first stage of pyrolysis is explained by the breakdown of defective points in the cotton macromolecules. It was established that previous irradiation of cotton seeds affects the proportion of defective points in the cotton fibre macromolecules; the effect reaches a maximum at 8 kr. A further increase in the radiation dose to 56 kr produces a decrease in the number of defective points, and this is evidence of a higher ordering of the structural cotton fibres investigated. (author)