Abstract
Wool fabrics were treated by metalic salts in aqueous solution of about pH7. Cupric nitrate, mercury acetate, zinc sulfate, and silver nitrate were used, and thioglycolic acid was also used. To compensate the charge effects of heavy metallic salts on wool, each treating solution contains KNO3 of the same concentration. The wool fabrics treated with KNO3 is chosen as a blank sample in all experiments.
The shrinkage caused by the treatment with metallic salts become conspicuous in the cases of Hg, Ag, and thioglycolic acid. Softness and crease recovery of wool are improved by the treatments with Zn, and Cu. The regain of the zinc treated wool fabrics is almost the same as that of original wool fabrics, while the wettability becomes smaller by all treatments, especially it becomes nearly zero in the case of Hg treatment. The better thermal insulation of the wool fabrics treated with Zn is clearly seen, on the other hand, the thermal insulation of silver treated wool fabrics of the highest shrinkage is smallest among all the treatments. It would be reasonable to suggest that the introduction of silver to wool increases thermal conductivity. The moth proof property is increased by the treatment with Cu, and thioglycolic acid. The shrinkage by washing is smallest in the case of copper treatment.
