Abstract:

The interaction of textiles with liquids (through adsorption, wetting, drying, imbibition) is a very common yet complex phenomenon, e.g. in washing, dyeing or filtration. Fibrous materials are indeed commonly used to capture droplets from an aerosol stream, from coalescence filters and face masks to fog harvesting. In many cases, especially with natural fibres such as cotton or cellulose, part of the solvent diffuses through the fibres as well as in between the fibres. Using model experiments, we identify the key role played by the liquid distribution on the fibres on these phenomena. In particular, we study the swelling behavior of isolated droplets on fibres and link the adsorption time to the liquid/fibre geometry. Using a simple system consisting in an array of vertical fibres, both in the lab and with a large scale in situ environnemental fog collecting net, we then report experimental measurements of aerosol collection efficiency and build a predictive capture model based on the liquid distribution on the fibres and drag on the fibrous panel.