Encapsulation 101

I’m not a scientist but this is how I understand the scientific theory of how encapsulation works. Soil is held to the surface of the fiber through attractions referred to as Van Der Wals forces.

The mechanism for soil removal is intrinsically designed into the encapsulation products, which allows it to be easily removed from the fiber. There is a small amount of fluoro chemical in the leading encapsulating products. This lowers the surface tension the same way that a non-stick pan releases an egg.

Mass attracts mass, thus agglomeration of the soil particles occurs. The agglomerated soil particles that are freed from the fiber during the cleaning process are now suspended in the cleaning solution. Wherever an agglomerated dirt mass is located on the fiber, this area will dry last because, it is surrounding a dirt mass which will hold more product.

During the drying process the agglomerated soil particles are pulled into the hardening capsule, kind of like a flower bud closing at night. The solution naturally dries from the outside towards its core inward. As it dries, it draws the soil substance to its middle, which reduces the surface area that’s being held to the fiber. As the polymer/soil package dries from the outside first, it curls back and away from the fiber. In this way the capsule is released from the fiber as it is hardening.

This leaves us with a dried soil/polymer package that is easy to extract through normal interim post vacuuming.



Rick Gelinas