28—The Relaxation of Stretched Animal Fibres II. The Relaxation of Human Hair

Abstract

Relaxation curves of human hair stretched 10–50 per cent in aqueous media have been determined. The time range of the experiments was 0–60 hours and the temperature range 14.9–34.7°C. The results indicate that two relaxation processes occur in a fibre stretched in water. One is rapid, contributes the major part of relaxation during the first 10 seconds after extension and is due to the breaking of secondary bonds; the other is a slower process which gives rise to relaxation over greater periods of time and is due to disulphide-bond fission.