Matrix is often referred
to as the amorphous region although evidence suggests that it does contain some degree of structural organiza- tion [46]. The matrix surrounds intermediate filaments, which con- tain precise arrays of the low-sulfur proteins made up of short sections of alpha-helical chains in coil formation. These highly or- ganized fibrillar units are considered to be the water impenetrable ‘crystalline’ regions of hair but have low cystine content [4]. The decrease in the value of s3 and Vf at around 100 h irradia- tion, and a simultaneous increase in I3 might be due to cross-linking within the CMC, a possibility hinted by Ruetsch et al. [7]. Beyond 200 h of UV irradiation time and up to 600 h, the average free vol- ume hole size (and also the fractional free volume) goes on decreasing quite rapidly. This, we attribute to the extensive cross-linking inside the cortex region, which happens to be a cumulative effect. Cross-linking would draw the adjacent polymer chains together, packing them more closely, and reducing the chain mobility. This decreases the overall size of the free volume cavities. In addition, such a process combined with a possible reor- dering of molecular chains, may result in the coalescence of the free volume holes thus decreasing their number density. This is evident from the decrease in the value of o-Ps intensity (Fig. 1b). Note that the overall response (Fig. 1c) of the cuticle and the cortex region to UV irradiation is similar, except that they occur at differ- ent time domains. Upon photo-irradiation, reduced oxygen free-radicals are sup- posed to be formed within the fiber [47] but are soon consumed in the oxidation of amino acids such as tryptophan and cystine. Moreover, the sample pre-conditioning employed in this study vitiates the possible influence of the free-radicals on positron results. Earlier reports on the UV damage in polymeric substances (including those on silk and cotton) highlight the possibilities of chain-scission [48], cross-linking [49], or both [50] depending on the photolability of their chemical constituents. Likewise, in the present study on human hair swelling and cross-linking seem to be the main structural changes brought about by UV irradiation. In the initial period, the effect of swelling is prominently seen, while, cross-linking dictates the free volumes size later on. We attribute cross-linking to be mainly responsible for the decrease in free volume size and not other processes such as diffusion of the degraded low-molecular-weight protein fragments from the cuticle to the cortex as pointed out by Ruetsch et al. [7], because even these fragments are large in size for occupying the ang- strom-sized cavities. The most used experimental method to determine photo degra- dation of polymers is spectroscopy. However, the formation of new covalent bonds that lead to cross-linking in a polymer is not easily observable by optical spectroscopy [32], and more so in the case of a complex biopolymer like human hair due to its heterogeneous, multi-component composition. Because of the lack of direct char- acterization methods for assessing the cross-linking, the underly- ing mechanism is often not clear. However, few possibilities can be predicted for the photo-irradiated hair: The photochemical fis- sion of disulfide bonds in hair results in cystine S-sulfonate resi- dues as primary product, which, in turn, may cross-link. Similarly, the carbonyl groups and amide groups resulting from the photo-oxidation at the peptide backbone carbon may establish
Fig. 1. Variation of (a) o-Ps lifetime s3 (free volume hole size Vf), (b) o-Ps intensity I3, and (c) fractional free volume Fv as a function of UV exposure time for virgin hair sample.