WETTING BEHAVIORS OF ASSEMBLIES OF VARIOUS FIBERS

PART IV. ON THE ASSEMBLIES OF ACRYLICS (1)

Abstract

In the preceding papers (I-III), the authors reported the wetting characterisitic of various fiber assemblies finding a notable fact that the assemblies from two kinds of acrylics have an unexpected good wettability. In order to examine this fact in more detail, the wettability was investigated on the assemblies of acrylic fibers including five kinds of products manufactured in this country. Data on rayon and polyester fibers were also obtained for comparison. Each sample was scoured with aqueous solutions of non-ionic detergents and then repeatedly rinsed with distilled water and finally dried and conditioned. The time dependence of upward penetration of distilled water into the fiber assemblies was measured by means of an apparatus described in previous paper (I).
The assemblies of acrylics are generally fairly wettable except the modacrylic fibers and the decrease in openness (porosity) of the assemblies give rise to an increase in the penetrating quantity in the range of porosity examined. The volume of penetrated distilled water varies with the kind of fibers in the case of compact assemblies of small porosity, but the difference in the wetting behavior is exceedingly small in the case of porous assemblies of large porosity.