REPELLENCY OF TEXTILE ASSEMBLIES .3. APPARENT CRITICAL PENETRATION TENSION OF MESH SCREEN

In a series of studies on the relation between the wettability of textile assemblies and their structures, we measured apparent equilibrium contact angles (ϕe) of mono filament nylon and polyester mesh screens to several ethylene glycol derivatives. As a novel measure of wettability of textile assemblies, apparent critical penetration tension (γcapp) has been defined as the surface tension of a liquid that can just penetrate such assemblies. The γCapp values of nylon and polyester screens were 42 ~ 43 and 43 ~ 45 mN / m, respectively, determined by plotting cos ϕe against γL and extrapolating to cos ϕ(δ), where δ is a critical contact angle determined from a filament radius and the filament spacing. The values of γCapp were practically independent of the geometric structure of mesh screens, and very close to the critical surface tensions γC obtained by Zisman plots. We also examined wetting of mesh screens with an aqueous surfactant solution. © 1990, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.