Wyllow Hildner

Mia Boudreau
Lab Report

Absorbency of Fabrics
This experiment measures fabric absorption through evaporation.

Abstract:
In this lab, we found out which material (cotton, polyester, or wool) would be less
absorbent to water evaporation. Our question for research was, How does fiber structure affect
the absorption of water vapor? We wanted to find this out, because when you are surviving in
the wild, its good to know which fabric will affect you the least due to perspiration.
We used boiling water on a hotplate and secured fabric over the top to find out how
much water vapor each fabric would absorb over four minutes. We found that polyester
absorbed the least amount. So, when you are in the wild, the best fabric to where (when dealing
with perspiration) would be polyester fabric.

Introduction:
This experiment was designed to find which fabric (wool, cotton, or polyester) would
absorb the most water through evaporation. This is good to know due to perspiration when
surviving in the wild. When waters hydrogen bonds break due to a higher kinetic energy, it turns
into a water vapor. Your clothing absorbs the water vapor. When the temperature drops, the
hydrogen bonds create a crystal structure. This could make your body temperature drop
quicker than normal and it would be harder to warm back up. Water draws heat away from the
body 25 times faster than air because of its higher density and heat capacity.

Material Concepts:
- Cotton fibers grow in tube-like shapes which
holds water much more easily. Cotton is grown
naturally and the fibers also absorb more water
through a capillary action, basically sucking it up
like a straw. (See Figure 1)

*Figure 1*

- Polyester fibers are derived from oils, which applies to

their lack of absorbency. Polyester is a manufactured
fiber which forms as a long chain of polymer.
(See Figure 2)

*Figure 2*
Wyllow Hildner
Mia Boudreau
Lab Report

- Wool is a complex material, composed of

cuticle and epicuticle cells, surrounded by
a cell membrane complex. Wool fibres
have a unique surface structure of
overlapping scales called cuticle cells. The
cuticle cells provide a tough exterior,
protecting the fibre from damage. The
cells have a waxy coating, making wool
water repellent, but still allowing
absorption of water vapour. (See Figure 3)
*Figure 3*

*Figure 4*Comparison of fibers under a microscope.

Question and Hypothesis:

If the fiber structure affects the absorption of water vapor, then the polyester will absorb the
least amount because its manufacturing process adds oil which designs it to be waterproof.

Question: How does fiber structure affect the absorption of water vapor?
Hypothesis: We think that the polyester fabric will absorb the least amount of water vapor
because its tightly woven fibers are designed to keep out moisture.

Independent Variable: Fiber Structure

Dependant Variable: Absorption of Water Vapor
Wyllow Hildner
Mia Boudreau
Lab Report

Methods & Materials

For this experiment, you will need to have the following materials: (See Figure 5)
Pot (1)
Rubber Bands (1)
100% Cotton Cloth (1)
100% Polyester Cloth (1)
100% Wool Cloth
Scale(1)
Measuring Cup (1)
Stove or Hot Plate (1)
Timer (1)
Thermometer (1) *Figure 5*

Design Setup/Directions:
1) Create your hypothesis.
2) Boil 1 cups of water on the stove or hot plate. (See Figures 6 and 7)
3) While your water in boiling, find the mass of your first piece of fabric and record it in the
table. (See Figure 8)
4) Now, find the temperature of the hot plate/water and record it.
5) Now place the piece of fabric over the top of pot and secure with a rubber band. (See
Figure 9)
6) Start the timer.
7) Stop the timer when it hits 4 minutes.
8) Now, find the new mass of the fabric and record it. Subtract the Mass Before from the
Mass After to find how much water was absorbed through evaporation.
9) Repeat steps 3-8 with with your last two pieces of fabric. Remember to use the same
pot.

*Figure 6* *Figure 7* *Figure 8* *Figure 9*

Wyllow Hildner
Mia Boudreau
Lab Report

Controls:
For this experiment, you need to make sure you are controlling the following variables:
- Water amount (1 cup)
- Fabric (100% of one type of fiber for each fabric.)
- Temperature
- Time (4 minutes for each fabric.)

Results
Mass Before Temperature of Mass After Amount of
Hot Plate Water Absorbed

100% 2.77g 300C 2.78 .01g

Polyester
Cloth

100% Cotton 9.44g 300C 9.92g .48g

Cloth

100% Wool 8.10g 300C 9.11g 1.01g

Cloth

Trends:
- The more natural fibers (cotton and wool) absorbed more water vapor than the
manufactured fiber

Potential Sources of Error:

- There could have been a gap where the fabric wasnt large enough to reach the rubber
band and vapor could have escaped.
- The thickness of the fabric varied and could have affected the result.
- The fabrics could have different factors affecting them (i.e. dirt, laundry detergent, etc).

Discussion
We did this experiment to show which fabrics would be best when dealing with
perspiration. Our expectations were that the 100% polyester fabric would absorb the least
amount of water vapor. We found that polyester did, in fact, absorb the least. Cotton absorbed a
higher amount than polyester, but a lower amount than wool, which absorbed the most.
Wyllow Hildner
Mia Boudreau
Lab Report

TRI-SIS INC. published the table below. We used this table to help form our
hypothesis.

FABRICS LEVEL OF
ABSORPTION

Nylon 11 to 12%

Acetate 25 to 30%

Acrylic 8 to 9%

Polyester 3 to 5%

Wool 40%

Cotton 50 to 60%

Rayon 95%

This table does not completely confirm our results. It shows that polyester is the least
absorbent, wool is the second most absorbent, and cotton is the most. We found that polyester
was least, cotton was second, and wool was most. We believe this is due to the difference in
our experiments. Their test consisted of weighing a fabric after it has been soaked in water.
Ours was weighing after absorbing water vapor, not straight water.

We our confident in our results because it was a very controlled environment and we
didnt have too many possible sources of error. The sources of error that we did have, could
have been corrected by acquiring larger amounts of fabric, making sure the fabric was all the
same thickness, and buying the fabric new and not used. We could have done other
experiments related to fabric absorption to confirm our results, but we think that this experiment
was a high quality one for finding absorption of water vapor.

Bibliography

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Wyllow Hildner
Mia Boudreau
Lab Report

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