Surface Characteristics of Fibers and Textiles

Part Ii:

M. J. Schick

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351412636
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias físicas
• Subtopic: Química

The extraordinary growth in the production and use of man-made fibers over the past fewdecades has focused attention on the surface properties of fibers and textiles. This volumecombines surface science and technology in its presentation of the substantial progressthat has been made in the technology related to the surface characteristics of natural, synthetic, and glass fibers and textiles.Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the coverage places emphasis upon the wetting, soiling, staining, frictional, and adhesive properties of fibers and fabrics, as well asphenomena related to these properties. The book offers critical reviews which describeexperimental facts, theories, and processes. Symbols are clearly defined in each chapter.Among the subjects covered are the surface properties of glass fibers, soil release, stainand water repellance, friction of fabrics, bonding of nonwovens, and the wetting of fibers.Surface Characteristics of Fibers and Textiles, Part II is an outstanding textbook forcourses dealing with surface chemistry, the mechanical properties of textiles, textiletechnology, and polymer chemistry. It is also a valuable reference book designed to makecurrent knowledge on these subjects accessible to industrial and academic researchers.

CONTENTS OF PART I

FRICTION AND LUBRICATION OF SYNTHETIC FIBERS, M. J. Schick

SURFACE PROPERTIES OF COTTON FIBERS, Kermit E. Duckett

SURFACE PROPERTIES OF WOOL FIBERS, K. Rachel Makinson

SURFACE GEOMETRY OF SYNTHETIC FIBERS, Francis L. Scardino

ABRASION OF TEXTILE SURFACES, Ruth L. Galbraith

RESISTIVITY AND STATIC BEHAVIOR OF TEXTILE SURFACES, S. P. Hersh

SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY OF SYNTHETIC FIBERS, H. R. Billica and R. D. Van Veld

APPLICATIONS OF THE ATR TECHNIQUE TO THE STUDY OF FIBER AND FABRIC SURFACES, John P. Sibilia

EFFECT OF PHOTOCHEMICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION ON THE SURFACE PROPERTIES OF TEXTILE FIBERS, S. H. Zeronian

COLOR OF FIBERS AND FABRICS, George Goldfinger, Kwok Ching Lau, and Ralph McGregor

PREFACE

Within the past two decades the phenomenal growth in the production of man-made fibers has focused interest on the surface properties of fibers and textiles. A perusal of the literature indicates that papers dealing with the surface properties of fibers were relatively sparse until the 1950^Ts. However, more sophisticated probings into the fundamental concepts are now in progress. Coupled with this research program has been a continuing effort to apply the results of this research to practical problems. Although some of these developments have been covered in other books, the need for a comprehensive treatise on the surface characteristics of fibers and textiles has been felt for a long time. Our treatise endeavors to fill this need by presenting the substantial progress in science and technology related to the surface properties of fibers and textiles. The investigation of these surface characteristics requires an interdisciplinary approach which combined surface science with textile technology and eliminates the myopia of classical-discipline centered work so commonly seen in the past.

Since the subjects to be discussed represent such a broad spectrum, no single person could write a critical review on more than a very limited number of topics. Thus, the treatise is a collection of chapters written by outstanding specialists. The contributions, although self-contained, are interrelated. This treatise offers critical reviews, which describe experimental facts, theories, and processes and which handle these in a rigorous way. Symbols are clearly defined in each chapter. It was impossible to publish a work of this magnitude with all chapters in a logical order and in a single book. However, every effort was made to group related chapters in sequence. A certain amount of overlap is unavoidable, but was kept to a minimum. The indexes to the entire book appear at the end of Part II.

The treatise encompasses the surface properties of both natural and synthetic fibers. Emphasis has been placed on the frictional, geometrical, electrical, wetting, adhesive, and optical properties of fibers and fabrics as well as on phenomena related to these properties. In addition, experimental procedures used to assess the surface properties of fibers and fabrics are described. It is the sincere hope of the contributors and editor that much exciting and stimulating research will result from this effort. Likewise, it is hoped that this presentation of the most up-to-date thinking in this area of surface characteristics of fibers and textiles will lead to further advances in textile technology.

It is with great pleasure that I express my sincere gratitude to the contributing authors in carefully preparing their chapters and their splendid cooperation with the editor. Likewise, the guidance and enthusiastic support of Dr. Ludwig Rebenfeld, consulting editor of the Fiber Science Series, is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also due to the academic, government, and industrial organizations with which the contributing authors and the editor are associated for the assistance given to us, and to the publishers who have given their permissions for the reproduction of illustrations. Finally, thanks are expressed to the following staff members of the Diamond Shamrock Corporation: Miss Marion Kearney and Mrs. Evelyn Fornale for secretarial assistance and Miss Sandy Haines for preparation of illustrations.

M. J. Schick
Morristown, New Jersey

Surface Characteristics
of Fibers and Textiles

(in two parts)

Part II

Chapter 11

THE WETTING OF FIBERS

Bernard Miller

Textile Research Institute
Princeton, New Jersey

I. INTRODUCTION

II. THE MEANING OF WETTING AND WETTABILITY

III. EQUILIBRIUM WETTING

A. General Considerations

B. The Surface Free Energy of a Solid

C. Work of Adhesion Between Solid and Liquid

D. Experimental Considerations

IV. DYNAMIC WETTING

REFERENCES

I. INTRODUCTION

Fiber scientists and textile technologists have a pervading need to understand and measure the wetting of fibers and filaments. Wetting of fibrous materials can critically affect many manufacturing processes, as well as the end-use performance of materials. In addition, certain manifestations of wetting behavior can be used to monitor, at least on a relative basis, changes in the surface free energy of a material. Indeed, the measurement of spontaneous surface wetting is one of the few experimental tools available for the study of solid-surface energetics.

For fibers as well as for other solids, wetting phenomena can be divided into two general classes: equilibrium wetting, where liquid and solid phases once placed in contact are no longer externally perturbed; and dynamic wetting, where the liquid or solid (or both) is kept in motion relative to the other phase throughout the wetting process. As might be expected, no single theory or experimental technique can deal with both of these cases, and they will be discussed separately in this chapter. As an additional restriction, this writing will deal only with the wetting of single-fiber elements and not fiber assemblies.

II. THE MEANING OF WETTING AND WETTABILITY

If one had the opportunity to carry out a word association test on a typical cross section of technically trained individuals, the response to the term “wettability” (or “wetting”) would most likely be “contact angle.” Indeed, the habit of describing the physical interaction of liquids and solids in terms of contact angles has become so widespread that a reappraisal of its limitations is urgently needed. Many recent papers dealing with wetting phenomena suggest that it is not generally understood that the numerical value of a contact angle or its cosine does not bear a simple relationship to the surface free energy of a solid or the energetics of interaction between a solid and a liquid. Brewis [1] has pointed this out in his discussion of the significance of the observed relative insensitivity of contact angle to temperature, such as has been reported by Johnson and Dettre [2]. Therefore, this review includes an attempt to define and illustrate what the contact angle does and does not mean, and what other quantities should be determined for the proper analysis and understanding of wetting phenomena.

In addition, it will be helpful to maintain a clear distinction between two terms that are sometimes used interchangeably, namely “wetting” and “wettability. “ The wetting of a solid surface is understood to be the condition resulting from its contact with a specified liquid under specified conditions. Wettability is the potential of a surface to interact with liquids with specified characteristics.

III. EQUILIBRIUM WETTING

A. General Considerations

The equilibrium condition for the wet...