What makes MF get a bit crunchy over time

[chefwong]

My wash mitts....over time, they just don't feel supply soft...

Just for the helluva it, I put my wash mitts on fairly hot water from the pot, did a MF wash in the washer and even threw it in the dryer which I rarely do with the mitts....I generally just put them on the gritguard and they are dry by the next wash session.

Is it shampoo/buildup in the MF that I'm not not realizing. Granted the MF mitts are pretty -soft- once wet, it just have that nice fluffy softness when dry these days.

[Setec Astronomy]

Are you saying you machine wash them after use, but don't usually put them in the dryer? Or you DON'T usually machine wash them, and just let them dry after the (car) wash?

[Optimus Grime]

What are you washing with?

I always wash my MFs on cold with something like Rags to Riches to help breakdown any sealants and prevent them from becoming hydrophobic. If they’re really dirty I’ll use a free and clear detergent and dry on low heat or air dry. It’s my understanding that drying with high heat causes the fibers to melt which leads to the crunchiness.

[Coatingsarecrack]

What are you washing with?

I always wash my MFs on cold with something like Rags to Riches to help breakdown any sealants and prevent them from becoming hydrophobic. If they’re really dirty I’ll use a free and clear detergent and dry on low heat or air dry. It’s my understanding that drying with high heat causes the fibers to melt which leads to the crunchiness.

Not to many dryers will get hot enough to melt the polyamide (the nylon/plastic) in MF.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MisterSnoop]

Not to many dryers will get hot enough to melt the polyamide (the nylon/plastic) in MF.

The polyamide and polyester in MF are semi-crystalline polymers and could soften above their glass transition temperature (impacts the non-crystalline region). That's much lower than their melting point. Not sure exactly what happens in a dryer above the glass transition temperature but it seems possible that you could distort the fibers some and then they would stay like that when they cool off. I still use low heat.

[Coatingsarecrack]

The polyamide and polyester in MF are semi-crystalline polymers and could soften above their glass transition temperature (impacts the non-crystalline region). That's much lower than their melting point. Not sure exactly what happens in a dryer above the glass transition temperature but it seems possible that you could distort the fibers some and then they would stay like that when they cool off. I still use low heat.

I have used normal (high) with no ill effects but I never dry to completion. I’ve forgotten sometimes and they have dried to completion and all my towels are 4-5 years old.

I probably got 10+ drying towels (mostly PFM’s) drying towels, 40 EE 350’s 20 EE 500’s and another 50+ from multiple sources of same quality (speed masters, clean garage and such) brand new waiting on the wings that I got on multiple BF sales expecting the current ones to ware out.

I’ve either been lucky or the MF are tougher than peeps give them credit for…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Setec Astronomy]

I have used normal (high) with no ill effects...I’ve either been lucky or the MF are tougher than peeps give them credit for…

The polyamide and polyester in MF are semi-crystalline polymers and could soften above their glass transition temperature (impacts the non-crystalline region). That's much lower than their melting point. Not sure exactly what happens in a dryer above the glass transition temperature but it seems possible that you could distort the fibers some and then they would stay like that when they cool off. I still use low heat.

You sound like you know something about this. I was with Crack and always dried on hot without any problems, but I have some shaggy edgeless towels from MFT/AF (I can't remember what the name was, they don't sell them anymore) that got permanently changed after I washed them in my (then) new washer which has like a 4 million RPM spin speed, and dried them on hot. Or did I wash them on the "sanitize" cycle? I can't remember, I talked about it over on Autopia. If somebody else had told me the story, I would have called BS, but since then I have been a little more conservative in my MF washing. I never figured out exactly what part of the process was responsible, and it was only those specific towels, not any others in the load, that were affected.

Now that I'm thinking about this, didn't someone have a thread recently about some Eagle Edgeless or similar that the fibers got bunched up?

[chefwong]

Mitts get machined wash with the MF's used, etc. I normally don't put the mitts in the dryer as the towels dry *faster* without since there is no inner core of the mitts that have more water and extend drying times, etc....

The fibers on the mitts ain't exactly hard, it's just not as super soft. I posted I just put them into the -dryer- as IME, drying via the dryer does make the MF more supple and fluffy vs air dry

[Setec Astronomy]

I use mostly MF wash pads like "the bone" so I hear you on the drying since they have a sponge core, but I have a lot of them so I just pile them up (after they've dried out on the grit guard) until I have enough for a load of laundry. That way I don't have "mis-matched" items in the dryer, even so I just dry them until they are warm, then let them dry for a few days on a rack. They never get "crunchy" for me, but I do have a water softener which I'm sure helps with that.

[Eldorado2k]

I’m a believer that drying microfiber in the dryer promotes softness while air drying doesn’t.