Abstract
PRESENT-DAY methods of imparting an unshrinkable finish to wool depend for their success on the formation of a gelatinous degradation product of keratin on or under the surface scale structure of the fibres. As a rule, the necessary degradation is brought about by chlorine, the layer of cortex immediately underlying the scales being attacked preferentially when an aqueous solution of chlorine is used1. The attack may, however, be restricted to the surface of the fibres by taking advantage of the inaccessibility of dry fibres to reagents of comparatively low molecular weight2, as, for example, in the processes where gaseous chlorine3, or solutions of chlorine in inert organic solvents, are applied to wool of low water content.
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References
Speakman and Goodings, J. Text. Inst., 17, T 607 (1926).
Speakman, Trans. Faraday Soc., 26, 61 (1930); Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 132, 167 (1931).
Wool Industries Research Association, King, A. T., and Galley, R. A. E., B.P. 417, 719.
Schmidt and Braunsdorf, Ber., 55, 1529 (1922); Schmidt, Haag and Sperling, Ber., 58, 1394 (1925).
Nilssen, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Leeds (1937).
Hall, A. J., Hicking, W. N., and Pentecost, S. J., B.P. 464, 503.
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SPEAKMAN, J., NILSSEN, B. & ELLIOTT, G. Reactivity of the Sulphur Linkage in Wool. Nature 142, 1035 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/1421035b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1421035b0
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