Note on the Disintegration of Wool in Abrasion Tests

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Abstract
The coating which formed on the abradant when a specimen of wool fabric was abraded and caused the rate of abrasion to increase approximately ten times in three successive tests was examined critically. Microchemical analyses showed that it had the same composition as the unabraded fabric. Infrared absorption curves of the coating and of the powder of the unabraded fabric, ground in a vibratory ball mill, showed the same absorption characteristics. Electron micrographs of the coating showed that it contained extremely small particles, many of which were approximately spherical in shape and about 100 to 200 A. in size. Similar particles were observed in the abraded debris when the specimen was kept wet with water during the abrasion test, and also in the powder into which the unabraded fabric was ground in the vibratory ball mill. It was concluded that the coating which formed on the abradant consisted of extremely small particles of wool which appear to correspond in shape and size to the elemental structural units (keratin molecules) proposed in recent concepts of the structure of wool.

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