Characterizing Textile Fiber Surfaces with Streaming Potential Measurements

Abstract

A method and an. instrument are described to measure the electrokinetic potential of textile materials, either fibers or fabrics. Based on the established principles of stream ing potential/current and using specially designed measuring cells, the zeta potential of a textile material is calculated by two methods. Examples of measurements are presented to demonstrate the straightforward use of the instrument for investigating the influence of different process steps on surface charges and adsorption properties ( i.e., interaction with different process compounds) during textile finishing processes.