Basic Parameter Study for the Separation of Wool Fibre Components by Ultrasonic Irradiation in Formic Acid

The structure of wool fibre is a key point in clarifying its properties and performances. Wool fibre can be separated into cuticle cells, cortical cells and even macrofibrils using formic acid as the medium by ultrasonication. The disintegration process of wool fibre is significantly subjected to many parameters. In order to obtain the maximum ratio of disintegration of wool fibre, the effect of these parameters on the disintegration process is studied. The separated wool fibre components are examined with a scanning electron microscopy and the disintegration rates are calculated from the weight proportion of residual and original wool fibres. The results indicate that wool fibre can be separated into cortical cells and macrofibrils by ultrasonication in formic acid. The broken ratio of wool fibre varies greatly with different conditions of ultrasonic irradiation, such as irradiation time, temperature, output power of a transducer, shape of vessel, position of probe, ratio of wool fibre to formic acid, and state of wool fibre. Additionally, ultrasonic irradiation is an efficient method for the preparation of intact cortical cells with high yield from wool fibre in appropriate conditions.