Wettability of Wood Pulp Fibers: Applicability of Methodology

The applicability of a newly devised technique, based on the Wilhelmy principle, for measuring wetting properties of textile fibers has been demonstrated for a series of wood pulp fibers. The wettability of unbleached kraft, neutral sulfite semichemical (NSSC), and thermomechanical pulp fibers was determined and differences are discussed in terms of variations in chemical composition and surface morphology. It was found that grafting of the kraft and NSSC pulps with styrene considerably decreased wettability due to presence of the hydrophobic styrene polymer at the surface of the pulp fiber