Thermomechanical and Swelling Behavior of Polymers Used in Wool Shrinkproofing

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Abstract
Thermomechanical and swelling properties of polymers used in wool shrinkproofing have been investigated. The studies involve a crosslinked polyamide, a polyacrylate, and a polyurethane. Swelling seems to be important only with the hydrogel type of polymer (crosslinked polyamide) used in this work. The mechanical modulus of the polymers is seen to be related to their shrinkproofing ability but does not seem to be the only factor. Torsional braid analysis shows that the loss tangent of the hydrogel-type polymer is drastically reduced when the polymer swells. This decrease is due to the low deformahility of chairk segments of the fully-swollen network, which might influence the bending be havior of single fibers. The high loss tangent of the polyurethane suggests that elastic hysteresis of the crosslinked network may be important in the shrinkproofing mechanism.