Alan W. Atkinson t and Janet M.

Lancaster I

A Rapid Technique for Estimating Fiber Lengths of Mineral

Wools and Other Staples

REFERENCE: Atkinson, A. W. and Lancaster, J. M., "A Rapid

Technique for Estimating Fiber Lengths of Mineral Wools and Other

but, because of shortening during sample preparation and segregation of long and short fibers, discrepancies exceeding a factor of
two can occur between different experimenters examining the
same material.
A second technique proposed by Rockwool AB of Sweden [1]
uses the increase in viscosity produced by suspending a given
weight of fiber in a viscous liquid such as glycol. This increase is related to the mean fiber length which may be estimated by reference
to calibration standards.
This viscosity approach suffers from several drawbacks, however, for example:

Staples," Journal of Testing and Evaluation. JTEVA, Vol. 10, No. 2,

March 1982, pp. 33-37.
ABSTRACT: A rapid and reproducible technique is described for estimating the mean length of staple fiber. A pad or felt prepared from the
fiber is separated into two parts giving a torn edge, the diffuseness of
which is proportionalto the mean fiber length. This diffusenessmay be
quantified by illuminating the torn edge and measuring the changing
light attenuation in a direction perpendicular to the line of separation.
Absolute estimates of length are made by reference to calibration standards. The method is of particular value with brittle fibers such as
mineral wools, for which it can otherwise be difficult to obtain reliable
length data.
The techniques described in this paper form the basis of patent applications in several countries.

1. Dispersing friable fiber in the viscous liquids can lead to

shortening.
2. The viscosity of the suspension is also dependent on both temperature and traces of moisture.
3. Viscosity will be influenced by fiber diameter and by the surface characteristics of the fibers.

KEYWORDS: staple fibers, length, mineral wool, glass wool, ceramic

fibers
Several techniques are in use for measuring the length of staple
fiber but for many materials none of the methods are both reliable
and sufficiently rapid for routine application. Long textile fibers
(cotton, spinning grades of asbestos, and so forth) can be evaluated by the comb sorting technique (for example, the technique
described in British Standard 4044 for cotton or the preparative
methods used with the Digital Fibrograph manufactured by Spinlab of Tennessee) but this is of little value for fiber with mean
lengths less than a few millimetres or for brittle materials such as
mineral wools.
Direct measurement, for instance with the aid of a microscope,
can by equally difficult as this demands a specimen consisting of a
thin film of well dispersed fiber. Problems can then arise when the
material contains a wide range of fiber lengths which become segregated during sample preparation. Direct measurement is also
very tedious.
The technique described below was developed primarily for evaluating mineral wools that present a particular challenge because of
their friability, relatively large mean fiber lengths, and the wide
scatter of lengths occurring within each sample. It may also be
used however for glass fiber, ceramic fiber, carbon fiber, natural
cellulose staples, paper pulps, and so forth.

In practice it has proved difficult to obtain reproducible results

from this technique,

Light Attenuation Method

The presently proposed technique, which overcomes most of
these difficulties, consists of the following steps:
1. Dispersing the fiber gently in water or some other low viscosity
liquid, with the aid of dispersing agents if necessary.
2. Filtering out the fibers or otherwise forming them into a thin
random fibrous pad. Deposition of the fibers from an air stream is
also possible.
3. Carefully tearing the pad into two parts to create a relatively
straight torn edge, the diffuseness or "hairiness" of which will be
related to the mean length of the fibers.
4. Quantifying this diffuseness by measuring the changing light
attenuation produced by the pad on moving across the torn edge.

Sample Preparation
Preparation of Pads

Mineral Wool Lengths

Aqueous cationic suffactant solutions are quite useful for

preparing suspensions of mineral wools but the most effective
dispersing medium was found to be a 70:30 ethylene glycol-water
mix.
In approximately 200 mL of this mixture 5 g of fiber were dispersed with the aid of a magnetic stirrer and then filtered (onto a

Two techniques are known to have been used for measuring

mineral wools. The first is direct measurement referred to above
1Section leader and scientist, respectively, Turner & Newall Materials
Research Ltd., Dell Rd., Rochdale, Lancashire, OL12 6BY England.
1982 by the American Society for Testing and Materials

33

Copyright by ASTM Int'l (all rights reserved); Tue Feb 23 04:15:59 EST 2016
Downloaded/printed by
Universite Laval (Universite Laval) pursuant to License Agreement. No further reproductions authorized.

0090-3973/82/0003-0033500.40

34

JOURNAL OF TESTING AND EVALUATION

filter paper) to give a pad of 125 mm diameter. This method gives

very good results with all types of fiber.

Effect of Varying Pad Thicknesses

The effect of different pad thicknesses on the indicated fiber
length (see below) was determined from a series of pads, with different thicknesses, prepared from the same mineral wool sample.
Their indicated lengths were as shown in Table 1. For pad weights
within the range of 3 to 6 g, the weight or thickness has little effect
on indicated fiber length. Therefore, 5 g appears to be an appropriate weight for pads of this area (that is, 400 g/m2).

Producing the Torn Edge

Care must be taken to minimize fiber breakage when tearing the
pad, which should normally be done after drying. The pad should
be first gripped in a straight edge clamp of the type shown in the
insert to Fig. 1. This applies a force of approximately 0.5 N per
linear millimetre to parallel cylindrical surfaces of approximately 4
mm diameter, which gives sufficient grip without damaging the fibers.
For longer fibers (greater than 2 ram) a comb, consisting typically of a row of 0.6-mm diameter pointed teeth with 0.2-mm gaps,
is pushed through the pad adjacent to the clamp and then slowly
pulled away from the clamp to tear the pad. Shorter fiber pads are

TABLE 1--Influence of pad weight on

indicated length.
Pad Weight,
g (Area ----125 cm 2)

Indicated Fiber
Length, mm

2
3
4
5
6

3.4
1.6
1.6
1.7
2.0

best torn by gripping them in a second and similar clamp applied

adjacent to the first.
For very short fibers the pads can disintegrate on drying and the
fiber suspension is best prepared from a solution of binder (for example, 1 g/L cooked starch, gum, and so forth). The pad is torn
while still moist but allowed to dry before further handling.

Light Attentuation Measurements

The diffuseness of the torn edge may be conveniently measured
by projecting a magnified image of the pad, as in Fig. 1, through
which a photoelectric cell is moved perpendicularly. The cell
should be mounted so that it always points towards the projector
lens.
Alternatively the image may be projected onto a photodiode array that is scanned electronically or a television: camera may be
used to convert the light intensities of the image into a suitable
electronic signal. Providing that the torn edge is sufficiently
straight, it is advantageous to scan a reasonable length at one time
as this will simultaneously include a larger number of fibers and
give a more representative result. This may be achieved by using a
large photocell, diode array, and so forth fitted with a narrow slit
lying parallel to the torn edge. Alternatively a cylindrical lens may
be used, as in Fig. 1, to condense a length of image down to the dimensions of a small photocell.
Typical curves of light attenuation versus position across the image of the torn edge are shown in Fig. 2. The slopes of the curves
are inversely related to the mean fiber length and are typically
quantified by measuring the distance between those points of the
image at which the light intensity is 25 and 75% of the maximum.
Use of a photodiode array in conjunction with a simple microprocessor enables rapid readout of relative length values in a convenient form.

Absolute Cafibration
The technique as outlined above gives a relative measure of fiber
length, but absolute values were clearly desirable and the system

clamp for tearing pads

imagewithout
condenser lens

photocell,etc.
cylindrical
condenser lens

"~ I
~

FIG. l--Layout of light attenuation system.

Copyright by ASTM Int'l (all rights reserved); Tue Feb 23 04:15:59 EST 2016
Downloaded/printed by
Universite Laval (Universite Laval) pursuant to License Agreement. No further reproductions authorized.

condensed image
of torn edge

ATKINSON AND LANCASTER ON FIBER LENGTHS

35

IO0

,,e
\

100

longer fibre

( correlation coefficient = 0.99 )

/

\ i
\

---

shorter fibre
0

\\

5O

oo 7

. . . .

\\

o/

,,o/
/0
0o

........

~o

actual fibre length (ram)

movement of

photocell assembly

FIG. 2--Typical light attenuation curves.

was therefore calibrated against fiber of known length. For this
purpose fibers were chopped from continuous lengths of low modulus carbon fiber, this material being selected because of its similar
diameter to mineral wool and for its toughness, which would ensure minimal reduction in fiber length during subsequent sample
preparation.
Pads were made from a series of chopped lengths and their indicated lengths by light attenuation are shown in Fig. 3. A distinct
linear relationship is apparent from which the calibration line was
drawn.

Reproducibility
Repeated experiments suggest that:
(a) results from different operators measuring the same part of a
sample are virtually identical,
(b) different parts of the same pad give results having a standard
deviation < 10% of the mean, and
(c) measurements from separately prepared pads of the same
material also have a standard deviation < 10% of the mean.

Distribution of Fiber Length

All the fibers in each sample used to construct the calibration
curve in Fig. 3 were cut to the same length whereas, in most genuine samples, a scatter of lengths would be expected. A series of experiments were therefore undertaken to establish the effect of this
distribution of length on the value indicated by light attenuation.

FIG. 3--Calibration of light attenuation values (25 to 75%) against actual length.

Type of Distribution
Before attempting to study artificial samples with known distributions it was necessary to establish the type of distribution occurring in natural samples (for example, mineral wools). This demanded
direct measurement of the fibers in a genuinely representative sample of the material--a task that has proved to be particularly difficult in the past, especially when dealing with mineral wools. The
method devised consisted of dispersing a small amount of fiber
very gently in water with the aid of an imidazoline cationic surfactant. This was slowly filtered onto a large membrane filter that was
then dried and rendered transparent with glycerol triacetate. The
center portion of the sample was magnified, the fibers traced, and
their lengths measured and recorded. The fibers were damaged
very little during this process and, by selecting only the center of
the filter, a representative sample was achieved. Unshortened and
shortened mineral wools and milled glass were each examined in
this way.
The results are shown in Table 2 together with data from the
light attenuation method. Measurements were also made from a
sample of fiber suspension that was simply spread out gently over a
glass slide and the fiber traced and measured.
The concept of "length-average" length that appears in Table 2
is analogous to "weight-average" molecular weights used in polymer science. It measures the total length of fiber occurring at each
length interval rather than the number of fibers, and for most applications it will be the more meaningful average. Length-average
is not significantly influenced by the presence of large numbers of

TABLE 2--Length data of various materials by different methods.

Sample

Method

Full length mineral wool (as received)

membrane filter
spread on slide
light attenuation
membrane filter
spread on slide
light attenuation
membrane filter
spread on slide
light attenuation

Shortened mineral wool

Milled glass

l,,. mm

~, mm

1.61
1.28
1.67
2.33
. . . . . .
0.77
1.27
0.78
1.21
...
1.4'
1.90
0.44
0.72
. . . . . . .

Copyright by ASTM Int'l (all rights reserved); Tue Feb 23 04:15:59 EST 2016
Downloaded/printed by
Universite Laval (Universite Laval) pursuant to License Agreement. No further reproductions authorized.

o,, mm

Length, mm

1.06
2.11

. ..

0.63
0.60
1.04
0.41
.

319
...
...
1.7
...
...
1.8

36

JOURNAL OF TESTING AND EVALUATION

short fibers in the sample which substantially depress the numberaverage but, because they represent only a small weight fraction of
the total, have little effect on the properties of the material.
Length-average was selected in favor of weight-average because of
the complexities arising out of measuring the diameter of each fiber in addition to its length. The length-average ~/ is calculated
from the following relationship:
= ~FI2/EFI

where F is the number of fibers falling within the length interval

with a mean of l.
The number average ~ is calculated in the conventional manner:
ln = Z F I / E F

For samples with large distributions of length, the difference between the number and length-averages can be very significant, for
example, when ~ - a n (standard deviation) the length average can
be almost twice the number average.
The results in Table 2 show that the standard deviation of length
within each sample can indeed by very high--approaching the
number average mean length. This leads to the large discrepancies
between number and length-average mean lengths referred to
above. The fibers in all the samples were found to be distributed
log normally as is common for fibers from a wide range of sources.
Figure 4 shows the distribution for partially shortened mineral

] }

wool; the upper histogram gives the number of fibers in each

length interval while the lower diagram gives the total length of
fiber in each length interval.
There was surprisingly good agreement between results obtained
from simply spreading fiber suspension on a slide and from careful
deposition of suspension onto membrane filters. This may reflect
the particular care exercised by the experimenter during this work
as past experience is that unsophisticated specimen preparation
can shorten fiber and lead to unrepresentative samples. Such effects may be responsible for the discrepancies that occurred with
the milled glass sample.
The most important observation from these and subsequent experiments is that the light attenuation method gives a value closer
to the length-average mean for specimens consisting of a wide
range of individual fiber lengths.

Investigation of Samples with Known Length Distributions

Having established the parameters of the length distribution occurring in natural samples it was possible to prepare artificial
samples containing fibers with precisely defined distributions. Two
types of fiber were used in these experiments:
1. Low modulus carbon fiber--a relatively tough material to
which, it is assumed, little damage would occur in sample preparation.
2. Continuous basalt fiber--which could be chopped to give the
required length distribution but which, having a similar composition and diameter to that of mineral wool, should suffer a similar
degree of shortening on subsequent handling.

Number average (1.)

_
.1=

)
F:

I Numbers of fibres I

J
fibre length

I Length of fibres

, mm

-!

Length average (lz)

fibre length , mm

FIG.

Sufficient material was cut from the carbon and basalt fiber to
lengths corresponding to log normal distributions with the parameters shown in Table 3, that is, with standard deviations of length
ranging from zero up to values close to the number-average mean
length. The mean lengths were then measured using the three different methods. Results are given in Table 3.
The weaker basalt fiber, in a similar manner to mineral wool
samples, tended to be damaged during the membrane filter
method more so than the carbon fiber. This was made apparent by
the introduction of a distribution of lengths in the specimens in
which previously there was none. Again the light attenuation
method gave a value corresponding reasonably with the lengthaverage and, providing that this is recognized, the technique appears to be applicable to samples consisting of fiber with a wide
scatter of lengths.

4 - - L e n g t h distributions f o r a typical mineral wooL

Measurement of Length Distribution from Light

Attenuation Results
It would clearly be desirable for the light attenuation method to
give some indication of the amount of scatter of lengths in addition
to the mean fiber length. To investigate this further, complete light
intensity curves were measured for many samples having similar
mean fiber lengths but with length distributions ranging from
o n = 0 to a value approximately equal to ln.
The results showed that, when On = 0, the light intensity curve
was symmetrical about the 50% attenuation value but, when a distribution of lengths was present, it was asymmetrical. The extent
of this asymmetry is small however and, at best, it could only give

Copyright by ASTM Int'l (all rights reserved); Tue Feb 23 04:15:59 EST 2016
Downloaded/printed by
Universite Laval (Universite Laval) pursuant to License Agreement. No further reproductions authorized.

ATKINSON AND LANCASTER ON FIBER LENGTHS

37

TABLE 3--Length data of carbon and basatt fibers by different methods.

Fiber

Method

l,,, m m

6, mm

o,,, mm

Carbon fiber (Specimen 1)

as cut
light attenuation
as cut
membrane filter
light attenuation
as cut
membrane filter
light attenuation
as cut
membrane filter
light attentuation

3.4

4.28

1.9

315
3,6
. .
3.0
2,4

6.3'
...
. .
3.0
3.1

31i
3.1

Carbon fiber (Specimen 2)

Basalt (Specimen 1)
Basalt (Specimen 2)

a n a p p r o x i m a t e indication of t h e scatter of fiber length within t h e

sample.

315
2.8
. .

6.3"
5,2
. .

.
0
1.3
311
2.5

514
,..
514
.,,
410
..,
5.4

Acknowledgment
T h e a u t h o r s would like to t h a n k Mr. J. Aspinall of T B A I n d u s trial P r o d u c t s for his statistical c o n t r i b u t i o n s to this work.

Commercial Availability
Shirley D e v e l o p m e n t s ( D i d s b u r y , M a n c h e s t e r , E n g l a n d ) is developing a c o m m e r c i a l version of this e q u i p m e n t .

Length, mm

Reference
[1] British Patent 2 016 534, 26 Sept. 1979.

Copyright by ASTM Int'l (all rights reserved); Tue Feb 23 04:15:59 EST 2016
Downloaded/printed by
Universite Laval (Universite Laval) pursuant to License Agreement. No further reproductions authorized.