Morphological Composition of the Cuticle from Chemically Treated Wool

Abstract

The effect of shrinkproofing processes on the surface of wool was studied. Tops were subjected to the individual steps of various industrial antifelting processes. Two shrinkproofing procedures involving resins and one oxidative chlorination procedure were investigated. The samples were characterized by analyzing the whole fiber. Chemical and physical data from equivalent processing steps were compared. The cuticle from the modified fibers was isolated and investigated by means of amino acid analysis. Based on these results, the morphological composition of the isolated cuticle was determined. Calculations involving the known composition of the isolated cuticle cells and the amount of proteins dissolved during the cuticle isolation procedure give information about the loss of exocuticle during industrial shrinkproofing. The findings reflect the role of pH value and nature of active oxidative agents in shrink proofing procedures. Short chlorination procedures at low pH values caused more drastic damage than extremely lengthy chlorination procedures at higher pH values.

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