Physics sheds light on the role of humidity in ironing
Friday, February 24, 2012 - 10:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Ironing increases the humidity of a piece of cloth by injecting water vapor in the form of steam. But how does the vapor affect the fabric? Until now, it was thought that its only effect was to soften the fibers. French researchers at the Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée et Nanostructures de Lyon have now shown that water vapor plays another key role by acting on the contacts between the fibers, whether or not the material they are made of absorbs humidity. This work has just been published online in the journal Soft Matter.