ABSTRACT
Fiber scientists and textile technologists have a pervading need to understand and measure the wetting of fibers and filaments. Wetting of fibrous materials can critically affect many manufacturing processes, as well as the end-use performance of materials. An alternate experimental approach which does not require the direct measurement of contact angle appears to be promising, especially for dealing with fibers. A much better technique is to make use of the buoyancy effect rather than trying to avoid it and, when necessary, to eliminate the immersion of fractured fiber ends by mounting the sample in the form of a rectangular loop with its ends placed where they will not come into contact with the liquid. Investigations of the reverse dynamic wetting situation, where wetted filament is drawn out of a liquid, have been mainly concerned with the equilibrium thickness of the film adhering to the emerging filament surface.
