37—THE SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY OF CHEMICALLY TREATED WOOL FIBRES

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Abstract
An account is given of experiments in which wool fibres were subjected to a large variety of chemical treatments considered as being representative of those commonly used in industrial finishing. For treatments designed to produce shrink-resistance, samples of similarly treated fabrics, subsequently subjected to a felting test (based on the International Wool Secretariat Specification 7), showed the area shrinkage to be within acceptable limits. Qualitative scanning-electron-microscope studies revealed relatively little damage to the surface topography of wool fibres when treatments were applied at the ‘normal’ level. When some of the treated fibres were subjected to a wash test (International Organization for Standardization No. 2), partial fragmentation of the cuticle occurred after chlorination and bleaching with hydrogen peroxide. However, little damage was observed after the wash test made on fibres treated at ‘normal’ levels.