42–The Gel Structure of the Wool Fibre

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Abstract
It has been shown that the wool fibre possesses a true yield point and, after extension, remains permanently more extensible at low tension. These observations necessitate fundamental changes in Shorter’s views on the internal mechanics of fibres. Instead of possessing the usual two–phase structure of gels, namely, a fibrillar structure and enclosed viscous medium in physical equilibrium with one another, it is found that the wool fibre. consists of two gels arranged, so to speak, in parallel. The first of these may be called the petrified gel and comprises an elastic cell wall enclosing a fibrillar structure which is not in physical equilibrium with a viscous phase. The second, which fills the interstices of the petrified gel, is gelatinous and capable of reversible solution in, and deposition from, water. Gelation occurs at 0° c. in water and at ordinary temperatures in unsaturated air and, under such conditions, the medium possesses the usual two–phase structure of gels. In reality, therefore, the wool fibre consists of four phases but, for convenience of specification, it will be considered here as possessing only three–

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