Page 163 - Fundamentals of Air Pollution 3E

130 9. Effects on Materials and Structures

Fig. 9-2. Old post office building being cleaned in St. Louis, Missouri, 1963. Source: Photo
by H. Neff Jenkins.

III. EFFECTS ON FABRICS AND DYES

The major effects of air pollution on fabrics are soiling and loss of tensile
strength. Sulfur oxides are considered to cause the greatest loss of tensile
strength. The most widely publicized example of this type of problem
has been damage to women's nylon hose by air pollution, described in
newspaper accounts. The mechanism is not understood, but it is postulated
that fine droplets of sulfuric acid aerosol deposit on the very thin nylon