Importance of Dynamic Surface Tension to the Residual Water.pdfVIP

Importance of Dynamic Surface Tension to the Residual Water Content of Fabrics† Daniel L. Carter, Matthew C. Draper, Rachel N. Peterson, and Dinesh O. Shah* Center for Surface Science and Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering and Department of Anesthesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 Received March 3, 2005. In Final Form: May 19, 2005 At the end of the final spin cycle of the laundry process, the residual moisture content (RMC) of fabric is directly related to the dynamic surface tension of the residual water in the fabric. The LaPlace equation for capillary rise predicts that the capillary rise of solutions in a capillary is proportional to the surface tension at the airliquid interface. If fabric can be considered to be a large ensemble of capillaries due to interfiber spacing, then the RMC of fabrics will be directly related to the surface tension of residual solution in the fabric. The use of a tailored rinse additive has the potential to decrease the surface tension of solution significantly, thus leading to a decrease in the residual water content of the fabric. It is expected that as the surfactant concentration increases the surface tension decreases. Hence, the RMC of fabrics must decrease with increasing surfactant concentration. However, a peak is observed in the RMC of fabrics before the critical micelle concentration (CMC) is reached. Prior to the CMC, it is proposed that a sudden adsorption of surfactant is occurring on the fabric surface leading to a decrease in bulk monomer concentration. The decrease in free monomer concentration should result in an increase in the equilibrium