Nonequilibrium Phenomena Influencing the Wetting Behavior of Plant Fibers

It is examined whether useful information on plant fiber surfaces can be retrieved from wetting experiments such as dynamic contact angle (DCA) analysis by use of the Wilhelmy technique and the Lifshitz-van der Waals acid-base theory. It is argued from a theoretical point of view that plant fibers may give rise to various complex phenomena during wetting experiments, phenomena which are typically not found for synthetic fibers, and that these phenomena can be a source of invalidation of experimental techniques which are commonly thought to supply information on equilibrium (or quasi-equilibrium) properties of plant fiber surfaces or of surface-liquid interactions. The nonequilibrium phenomena are studied experimentally by DCA analysis of 10 sisal fibers, 10 coir fibers, and 5 polyacrylate-coated glass fibers. The fibers are immersed in deionized water at 10 different speeds ranging from 2 to 100 µm s(-1) and the relationship between immersion speed and contact angle is examined. In contrast to what is found for the coated glass fibers, the results indicate that the (aqueous) wetting behavior of sisal and coir fibers is qualitatively far from the behavior which should ensure the meaningful interpretation of the wetting data as (quasi-)equilibrium data. From both a theoretical and a practical basis it is hence concluded that nonequilibrium phenomena necessitate a more severe form of precaution toward surface energy component theories when these are used for interpreting plant fiber wetting than what is currently at issue. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.