100% Mercerized Cotton

[napdog]

Is it safe to use, or no?

 

[Thrasher]

Mercerization is a treatment for cotton fabric and thread that gives fabric or yarns a lustrous appearance and strengthens them. The process is applied to cellulosic materials like cotton

The modern production method for mercerised cotton, also known as "pearl" or "pearle" cotton, gives cotton thread (or cotton-covered thread with a polyester core) a sodium hydroxide bath that is then neutralized with an acid bath. This treatment increases lustre, strength, affinity to dye, resistance to mildew, but also increases affinity to lint.

--------------as it is a chemical treatment I wouldnt risk it because you dont know what kind of residue is left over.

 

[jazon1]

yea maybe if your dead set on trying it you could boil it first then dry it before use,but personally i would just steer clear of anything that has been chemically treated.

 

[MISTer E]

Is it safe to use, or no?

I doubt one would die from it 0_0, but would boil it & bake it, if I tried it. All wick materials have some negatives some may consider non safe or less safe. I have not used Mercerized/Mercerised cotton as wickage.

Mercerisation means it has been bathed in sodium hydroxide/lye & then the lye is neutralized & washed out. Essentially it preshrinks the cotton. This is one reason I suspect is why a cotton wick needs time to settle even if it looks wet, as without Mercerisation it takes time for the fibers to swell & expand but the fibers also need to shrink after the swell & that is a key part of the need to do a settling wait period once the cotton is first wet, as it does shrink while in a wet state. [dryness is not needed for shrinkage.]

Vivi Nova users often see the shrinkage where wick meets the slot. Some pull it away, or fluff it out from the slot though I most often do not & just leave it. I use it as a gauge to visually know the absorb then shrink process is complete.
Here is a pic of the wick shrink effect upon a slot of a ceramic head. The image on the left is a fresh build & the image on the right is a different build but it shows the shrink/suck after settling is complete(& then some). I suspect shrinkage is partially responsible for the hug effect.

Here is an image of a Vivi ceramic mod I built 8 hours ago showing a less vaped after shot of the settling sucking the slot.[that's kinkE o_0]

I found this article that says cotton treated with the Mercerisation process has thermal decomposition @ lower temps than non processed.

from my link: According to the results obtained, untreated cellulose begins to decompose at a higher temperature (Ti = 368 °C) when compared to mercerized cellulose (Ti = 307 °C). It is seen that there is a significant difference between mercerized and untreated cellulose in relation to their respective thermal decomposition temperatures, which may be related to the difference in crystallinity between untreated and mercerized linters.

a neat-o image from the link

Thus I will avoid it for that reason.

 

[napdog]

Thanks for all your input. I will not be using it. I'm heading back to hobby Lobby.