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Photographic gallery.  Thousands of particles under the microscope.
Linen Fiber Under the Microscope

Red Linen From Clothing

Transmitted Oblique Brightfield Illumination

Definition/Function:

Linen is more processed flax fiber. Flax fiber is often a bundle of individual fibers and tends to be more coarse. Linen tends to be single flax fibers and is much more consistent and finer in fiber diameter.

Significance in the Environment:

This is a common clothing fiber.

Characteristic Features:

Flax and linen have a refractive index along its length of about 1.58 to 1.60 and perpendicular to its length of about 1.52 to 1.53. They have a birefringence of up to 0.06 and a positive sign of elongation.

Associated Particles:

References:

DuPont Company Techinical Bulletin X-156: IDENTIFICATION OF FIBERS IN TEXTILE MATERIALS, December 1961.