Studies of the chemical modifications of wool and their effects on the wool–water relationship. Part II. Wool‐water relationships of modified and unmodified wool

Abstract

AbstractThe wool–water relationships of the modified wools prepared as described in Part I of this series have been studied. The drained water content of fabric and the solution isotherms and diffusion constants of water vapor into untreated and modified wools have been measured. Most of the treated wool fabrics showed considerable decreases in the drained water contents compared with the untreated wool. However, the degree of improvement depended markedly on the conditions of modification, particularly with the styrene grafted materials. In some cases values close to those of a comparable polypropylene fabric were found. The sorption isotherms also showed that the modifications reduced, substantially in some cases, the regains even when calculated on the wool content only. The diffusion constants were difficult to measure because of the heats of sorption causing temperature changes during the sorption; however, at lower regains this effect could be corrected. It was found that both the direct chemical modification and the grafted wools showed a diffusion behavior which was more characteristic of hydrophobic materials in that the diffusion constants tended to decrease with increasing concentration. At low humidities the diffusion constants were larger than in the untreated wool, but at higher humidities lower diffusivities were found with the modified wools.