Effect of Heat on Wool, Cotton and Nylon

Abstract

TEXTILE fibres, especially those included in certain mechanical cloths exposed during use to high temperatures, show obvious deterioration after the lapse of time. Thus, when aqueous extracts of such woollen and cotton cloths, so damaged, have been examined, they have always been found to be of relatively low pH value and high electrical conductivity as compared with extracts of the original material. Also, it has been observed that in cases where one side of a thick cloth is in contact with heated drying cylinders, there is a progressive increase in the pH values and a decrease in the conductivity figures of the extracts as one proceeds from the heated side. It was found, for example, that the fibres taken from the side of a woollen dry felt in contact with the heated cylinder gave a pH value of 3·82, whereas those from, the middle and from the outside of the felt gave extracts of pH 4·46 and 5·36 respectively.