Water transport along keratin fibers as measured by an electrical capacitance technique.

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A new experimental apparatus has been developed for studying water transport behavior along fiber bundles which consist of a few textile fibers. In order to detect the small amount of water which travels along fibers, we used an electrical capacitance technique and constructed an apparatus which contains specially designed electric amplifier circuit and condenser electrodes between which sample fibers are set. Water transport behavior was evaluated for nylon, polyester (PET), and rayon fibers and it was found that there exists a minimum (critical) number of constituting fibers (CNF) when water transport occurs along textile fibers, depending on the type of fiber. These CNF values were 10, 10, and 2 for nylon, PET and rayon, respectively. These results were discussed on the basis of the surface wetness of the fibers. Similar experiments were also carried out for keratin (human hair) fibers, and it was found that water transport was not observed for untreated virgin fibers, even when the number of fibers was greater than 10. On the other hand, water transport was observed in the case of surface-modified hair fibers, which had been treated by chlorination with DCCA reagent or by physical rubbing with sandpaper. These results were discussed on the basis of changes in surface properties of hair fibers ; namely, the hydrophobic nature of. the surface of virgin hair had been changed into a hydrophilic one by the modification.