Examining a change in the properties of coarse wool fiber under the influence of electrical discharge treatment

Tatyana Asaulyuk,Aleksandra Kunik,Sergey Myasnykov,Yulia Saribyekova,Olga Semeshko

doi:10.15587/1729-4061.2017.108269

Abstract

Modification of coarse wool fibre is a basic condition for improving quality of the manufactured woolen textile products while reducing their cost. Traditional methods of modification of wool are expensive, that is why the implementation of these methods into existing technological modes is not always economically justified. The obtained effect of modification is often associated with undesirable damage of protein structure of fiber. A solution to this problem is the application of electric discharge treatment, accompanied by the emergence of electric discharge non-linear bulk cavitation. It is shown that the influence of electrohydrolic shock and products of water cleavage on wool does not cause profound destruction of keratin, in contrast to enzymatic and plasmochemical methods of treatment. Based on the performed experimental studies, it was determined that during electric discharge treatment of coarse wool there occurs the compaction of fiber cuticles and a change in supramolecular structure of keratin. This fact predetermines a decrease in felting ability of wool fibre, an increase in sorption properties, as well as in resistance to hydrolysis and influence of oxidants and reductants. It was established that the application of electric discharge treatment as a method of coarse wool modification would contribute to a decrease in shrinking and improvement of optimized dyeing of woolen textile material. Thus, the proposed technology of wool improvement will make it possible to use less expensive raw materials for the production of textile materials for different purposes.

Highlights

There has been an increase in the world consumption of wool fibre in recent years, which due to its unique range of natural properties is a valuable raw material for manufac turing a wide range of textile materials.At present, woolen goods, produced in Ukraine, occupy a small part of the market
Formation of new transverse bonds in keratine results in an increase in strength and resistance to the hydrolysis and effect of oxidants and reductants, as well as to a decrease in the tendency to fiber felting [25]. This circumstance allows us to assume that the application of electric discharge non-linear bulk cavitation (EDNBC) as a method of preliminary modification of coarse wool fiber will contribute to the improvement of its mecha nical and technological properties
Structural changes in the coarse wool fiber exposed to EDNBC were studied using the method of an X-ray structural analysis

Summary

Introduction

There has been an increase in the world consumption of wool fibre in recent years, which due to its unique range of natural properties is a valuable raw material for manufac turing a wide range of textile materials. A basic condition for decreasing a dependence of the wool industry of Ukraine on import is a sustainable development of own raw material base. Current conditions make the wool sector of light industry face the need to improve quality of the products under existing structure of the raw material base. This is possible to achieve through introduction of new technologies that will make it possible to produce competitive textile materials. New methods for wool treatment will help solve the problem of import substitution and produce high-quality woolen fabrics for various purposes at reduced cost. That is why the research, aimed at finding and implementing economically-sound and environmentally-safe ways to wool improvement, is a relevant task

Literature review and problem statement

Conclusions