Abstract:

In order to study the dissolving modes of wool to reuse the wool fibers, the scanning electron microscopy was employed to observe the surface morphological changes during its dissolution process, and two dissolving modes were proposed, i. e. , desquamation-of-cuticle-scales mode and collapsion-of-fibres-backbone mode. The desquamation-of-cuticle-scales mode refers to be wrinkled or partially dissolved, eventually breadage or desgramation of wool scales after the solvents swelling. The collapsion-of-fibres-backbone mode is due to the inherent and damaged defects of wool, through which the solvents permeate into the cortex and react with the large molecules of keratins, resulting in its dissolution, making the shrinkage and collapse of wool backbone and leaving the residues of insoluble cuticle scales. The whole dissolution process of wool can be regarded as the different combination of these two modes. The combination depends on the structure of cuticle scales and the inherent defects of fibres. It is different for different fibres and even for different parts of the same fiber. However, the collapsion-of-fibres-backbone is the main mode during the dissolving process of wool.

Key words: wool, cuticle scale, 2-mercaptoethanol, morphological structure, dissloving mode