Sorption Behavior of Water Vapor on Wool and Descaled Wool Fibers.

In order to elucidate the effect of the cuticle on the sorption behavior of wool fibers, the sorption of water vapor on Merino and chemically descaled wool fibers was measured with the weighing bottle and quartz spiral balance methods. The equilibrium water uptake was higher for Merino wool than that for the modified one. This difference was ascribed to the decrease in the amount of polar groups in the modified wool. At the initial stages of water sorption, the sorption capacity of the modified wool was higher than that of Merino wool. The relationship between the water uptake and the square root of the sorption time showed that epicuticle and exocuticle layers of Merino wool acted as barriers for the water vapor penetration.