42—THE ESTIMATION OF CROSS-LINKS IN WOOL FROM THE EXTENT OF SWELLING IN FORMIC ACID

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Abstract
An account is given of the application of a gravimetric method for measuring the extent of swelling of wool in formic acid to a series of wool samples containing decreasing amounts of randomly distributed disulphide bonds. In accordance with the Flory-Rehner equation, a linear relation was observed between disulphide content and V 5/3, where V is the volume of dry wool expressed as a fraction of the volume of swollen wool. This calibration curve was then used in conjunction with swelling data to assess the number of cross-links introduced on the treatment of wool with formaldehyde and other bifunctional reagents. The method is particularly useful for ranking in order relatively high levels of cross-linking.