Flax — Flax is the most important of the bast fibres in Textile use. The fibres occur in the stem of the flax plant (Linum usitatissimum) where they are grouped in some 30 bundles round a woody core. The word flax is derived from the Old English fleax. The Teutons referred to it as flakso, coming from the Teutonic root fleh, to plait. The term "flax" is applied to fibre and yarn, whilst the name for the sewing threads and fabrics is "linen".
Each bundle contains 10 to 14 individual fibres, on average 20 to 30mm in length and 15 to 20mm in diameter. After retting, the fibre bundles are separated from the cortex and woody tissue by scutching, which is a mechanical process. A certain amount of cortical tissue is left adhering to the fibre bundles and gives the characteristic colour to the raw flax strands.
About 80% of the total world Flax crop is grown in the former USSR and other Eastern bloc countries, whilst France, Belgium and Holland are the main flax-growing countries in Western Europe.
Flax Textile is stronger than cotton. It readily absorbs moisture (12% moisture regain) and so is extensively used in the towel trade; this property also contributes to the comfort of linen clothing. Chemically, the flax polymer is the same as the cotton polymer; both are cellulose polymers. Physically, the Flax Textile polymer differs from the cotton polymer, in that it has a degree of polymerisation of about 18000. This means the Flax Textile polymer is made up of about 18000 celloboise units. It is about 18000 nm long and about 0.8 nm thick. This makes it the longest known, linear textile polymer. The polymer system of flax is more crystalline than that of cotton. Flax fibres therefore tend to be stronger, crisper and stiffer to handle, and textile materials of linen wrinkle more readily than those of cotton fibres.
The environmental impact of flax processing is similar to that of cotton apart from the initial stages where the flax plant has to be retted to remove the fibres. Historically most retting was carried out in a pond. This was called liquid retting and it produced waste water with a high COD. Today, the process is mainly carried out in warm moist conditions and the flax is allowed
to rot on the ground with mechanical turning, this is called ground retting. It is still a messy process but it uses less water and is less labour intensive.
