Kinetic Studies of the Wool -Water System

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Abstract
Kinetic studies of the sorption of water, following a change of water vapor pressure surrounding wool fibers and horsehair with a high initial or final water content, are described. The processes of absorption and desorption show non-Fickian behavior over the entire course of water content change. An additional non-Fickian anomaly, present for both integral and interval absorption, is an overshoot above the final equilibrium con centration of water in the fibers. It is apparent that the initial molecular configuration of the keratin has a marked influence on the sorption behavior. The effect is greater at the high relative humidities of the experiments reported in this paper than at intermediate relative humidities (approximately 50% RH) as reported in Part II. Data obtained by a vibroscope technique show a different course of absorption, for the same changes of relative humidity around the fiber, than is found for the samples on the sorption balance. The non-Fickian nature of the process is evident in both techniques.
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