A Quick Embedding Method for Light Microscopy and Image Analysis of Cotton Fibers

Abstract

A quick embedding method using UV polymerization of methacrylate plastic has been devised for embedding fibers encased in a polyvinyl chloride tube. The resulting embedments are suitable for light microscopy and image analysis.

Macro and Micro Characterization of Biopolymers: Case of Cotton Fibre

“…Cross-sectioning is the most significant step in obtaining analysable images of fibres. A bundle of fibres embedded in a polymer resin is cut (Annis & al., 1992;Boylston & al., 1995) and the surface containing the fibre cross sections is imaged on a microscope by reflected light (Annis & al., 1992). Image segmentation is a computational process that separates cotton cross sections from the image background from one another.…”

Determination of cotton fiber maturity and linear density (fineness) by examination of fiber cross-sections. Part 1: Comparison of two image analysis systems used in conjunction with optical microscopy

“…In preparation for cutting fiber cross-sections, the CSIRO followed the detailed technique reported by Boylston et al 26,27 and used routinely at the USDA to prepare fiber bundles and resin embed the bundle. Given that the aim of the procedure is to obtain quantitative fiber cross-sectional dimensions by viewing the prepared thin fiber cross-sections under the optical microscope, Boylston et al focused on two critical issues in the development of this procedure.…”

“…It is noted that Hequet et al 25 recently reported a further refinement of this process by mounting the fiber bundle in thinner 1/16-inch internal diameter tubing to further reduce the likelihood of errors due to the fiber axis not being at right angles to the cutting plane during the sectioning process. Note that for all the results reported in this paper the fibers were mounted at the CSIRO following Boylston et al's 26,27 original procedure, that is, the fiber bundle was mounted in 1/8-inch internal diameter tubing. This study does not address the likely errors/benefits from adopting the two different tubing sizes for mounting the fiber bundle.…”

“…Hequet et al 25 tackled this challenge with an extensive and detailed study to create a reference set of 104 cottons. This study utilized (a) a modified version of the technique for embedding and preparing fiber cross-sections developed by Boylston et al 26,27 at the United States Department of Agriculture Southern Regional Research Center (USDA-SRRC) in New Orleans and (b) the purpose built FIAS image analysis system developed by Xu and colleagues [28][29][30] for analyzing images obtained from viewing the cross-sections under the optical microscope. It is interesting to note that Hequet et al 25 aimed to create a reference set with a broad range of average values of fiber maturity ratio and linear density values.…”

Automatic Segmentation of Fiber Cross Sections by Dual Thresholding

“…Fiber identification methods using image-processing techniques generally take five steps: sample preparation, image capturing, fiber detection and segmentation, shape analysis, and fiber classification. In sample preparation, a bundle of fibers is often embedded in a polymer resin, hardened and cut into slices of 1-4 m in thickness [11] [12]. The slices are then placed on a slide, and the embedding resin is removed by dissolving solvent.…”