INTRODUCTION

Moisture is usually defined as the quantity of water absorbed or adsorbed by a solid or liquid. A conventional way of determining moisture of a sample is by drying. A general way of

determining moisture is by weighing the sample when relatively wet and when dried by removing water by desiccation. It is also known as gravimetric method. The percentage of moisture (Mp) of sample can be expressed as: Mp =

Moisture content has a number of synonymous terms, many of which are specific to certain industries, types of product, or material. The water content in solid, granular, or liquid materials is usually referred to as moisture content on either the wet or dry basis; the wet basis is common to most industries. Specifically, moisture content on the wet basis refers to the quantity of water per unit weight or volume of the wet material. A weight basis is preferred. The textile industry uses the dry basis for moisture content of textile fibers. Often referred to as regain moisture content, the dry basis or regain refers to the quantity of water in a material expressed as a percentage of the weight of the bone-dry (thoroughly dried) material. The properties of textile fibers are strongly affected by the atmospheric moisture content. Moisture and humidity influenced on the results of testing of textile materials. Many fibers, particularly the natural fibers are hygroscopic in nature and they will absorb moisture if kept in a humid atmosphere Conversely, they will tend to lose moisture in a dry atmosphere (a process known as desorption.) Hydrophobic fibers (e.g. polyester) are those which do not absorb moisture if kept in a humid atmosphere

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LITERATURE REVIEW
Aim of experiment: The aim of this experiment is to find the moisture content of textile. Moisture content The amount of moisture in a sample of material may be expressed in terms of moisture content. Moisture content is the weight of water in a material expressed as a percentage of the total weight. Moisture content is an important parameter to determine for a specific sample before designing a way to process it or to uses the sample in a more economical way. There are several methods for initially determining the moisture content of a material. There are two basic ways to express the moisture content of a material: 1. Dry-basis moisture content The dry-basis moisture content expresses the ratio of the moisture mass present in the material to the mass of the dry matter. 2. Wet-basis moisture content The wet-basis moisture content expresses the ratio of moisture mass to the total mass of the substance. Moisture content on textile. Textiles refer to anything that is capable of being woven or the aspects pertaining to weaving (Jewel et al., 2009). Some of the properties of a textile fibre are dependent to its behaviour in various atmospheric conditions. Most textiles are hygroscopic; therefore they readily absorb water vapour from a most atmosphere and also desorb water in a dry atmosphere.

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Fibre properties are affected by the amount of water absorbed, dimensions tensile strength, elastic recovery, electrical resistance etc (Saville, 1998). Moisture content varies from 5 o 10%. Moisture content has significant effect on mass of a material.

Factors affecting moisture content on a textile. There are basically three aspects that affect the moisture, namely Temperature

Practically, the effect of temperature on moisture is not important as it is the relative humidity that plays a major role. A change of 10 degree Celsius will give a change in moisture content of about 0.3% but since it is more likely that testing environment will ever be change by 10 degree Celsius, it can therefore be ignored. Time

A sample placed in a given atmosphere for a given period of time will absorb moisture from it and therefore may alter the moisture percentage of the sample. History of sample

The sample may have been reprocessed; doing so can change the moisture content of a textile. The common properties that are affected by the moisture in atmosphere are: Dimensions Mechanical properties Electrical properties Thermal properties

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Determining moisture content A solid fuel can be characterised mainly by proximate analysis, ultimate analysis and its calorific value. Proximate analysis is used to determine moisture, volatile matter and fixed carbon and ash in a solid fuel. The existing methods of determining moisture content in solid fuels is based on the use of drying ovens or the treatment of the tested fuel with cold acid, magnesium methyl iodate, calcium carbide, aluminium sulphide, aluminium chloride etc(Ravich,1961) Digital moisture meter is also an apparatus used for measuring moisture content. Another way of determining the moisture content of a sample is known as Karl Fischer titration method. It is a classic and old method developed by Karl Fischer in 1935. It detects only loss of water other than other volatile components contrary to oven dry method. It has the disadvantage that the water present in the sample must be easily accessible to the reagents of the titrations. Electrical Method The electrical method of determining the moisture content of wood uses the relationships between moisture content and measurable electrical properties of certain sample, such as conductivity (or its inverse, resistivity), dielectric constant, or power-loss factor. These properties vary in a definite and predictable way with changing moisture content, but correlations are not perfect. Therefore, moisture determinations using electrical methods are always subject to some uncertainty

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METHODOLOGY

The objective of this experiment is to calculate the moisture content of textile. Apparatus used: Three plates Weighing balance Pieces of textile Furnace Procedures: 1. The mass of the three plates are weighed and each plate was labeled A, B and C . 2. 22.1 g, 22.0 g and 20.4g of the textile sample is weighed and place in plated A, B, and C respectively. 3. The three samples are then put in the furnace. 4. The mass of the samples are then measured at different intervals of time 105 minutes, 120 minutes and 135 minutes, M dry. 5. The results obtained are tabulated.
6. The moisture content is then calculated.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Results :
The results obtained are tabulated.

Plate Label A B C

Plate weight/g 108.5 108.5 124.9

Weight of wet sample/g 22.1 22 20.4

Weight of plate + wet sample/g 130.6 130.5 145.3

Weight of plate + dry Sample after 105min / g 122 122 137

Weight of plate + dry Sample after 120 min / g 122 122 137

Weight of plate + dry Sample after 135 min / g 122 122 137

Calculation: Moisture content is calculated using the following formula,

( (

) ( )

Plate A At 105 minutes,

At 120 minutes,

At 135 minutes,

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Plate B At 105 minutes,

At 120 minutes,

At 135 minutes,

Plate C At 105 minutes,

At 120 minutes,

At 135 minutes,

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The table Table 1: Results obtained during practical Time / (minutes) Plate A Moisture Content / (%) 105 120 135 6.58 6.58 6.58 6.51 6.51 6.51 Plate B Moisture Content /(%) Plate C Moisture Content / (%) 5.71 5.71 5.71

Discussion: With different mass of textile , different moisture content was obtained .It can also be observed that for a plate at different time interval , the moisture content remained the same. As the weight of sample decreases, moisture content also decreases.

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CONCLUSION

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