[This template readme file should be edited to be relevant to your dataset. The template proposes a basic set of information to be provided about a dataset. Sections 1-3 provide key information about the dataset and should be completed as fully as possible; Sections 4-5 provide information for interpretation and use of the dataset, and should be completed according to your judgement. Ask yourself in completing these sections: what information would the user of this dataset need in order to be able to understand it or replicate the results? Use of the README plain text format for dataset documentation is not required, and may not be suitable for longer or more detailed documentation. In these cases, or if preferred, you can use PDF or MS Word. Information provided here must correspond accurately with information provided in the dataset metadata record, e.g. the dataset title should match exactly, the same Creators should be listed, etc. The readme file should be saved with the name README_[Creator surname]_[Publication year]. The file name should not exceed 32 characters. Examples: README_Smith_2023.txt; README_Jones-etal_2024.txt. Text within square brackets is instructional and should be deleted from the final version of the readme.] 1. ABOUT THE DATASET -------------------- Title: Creator(s): [Nora S. Alrefaei 1, 2, Peter J. Hine 2, Michael E. Ries 2] Organisation(s): [1 Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Taibah University, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia; 2 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK] Rights-holder(s):Unless otherwise stated, Copyright 2024 University of Leeds Publication Year: 2025 Description: [In this work we show that it is the molecular weight in a variety of natural and treated plant yarns that is the dominant factor in controlling both the rate of dissolution and the dissolution activation energy in the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate. We have used an alkali treatment (sodium hydroxide) to primarily reduce the molecular weight of three natural plant yarns (hemp, cotton and flax) in order to investigate how dissolution depends on molecular weight, composition and crystallinity. Dissolution experiments were carried out on both the raw and alkali-treated yarns. Chemical composition, crystallinity, and molecular weight were determined for all these six yarns. After dissolution, the partially dissolved yarns were coagulated in water, resulting in a composite material with an undissolved inner core surrounded by a dissolved and coagulated outer skin region. The growth of this dissolved and coagulated fraction was tracked using optical microscopy, showing it to increase with dissolution time and temperature. Time-temperature superposition was found to hold in all cases, allowing a dissolution activation energy to be determined. The width of the outer skin of the coagulated region was found to be directly proportional to the square root of the dissolution time, demonstrating that the limiting factor for dissolution is the diffusion of the ionic liquid. Finally, all the mercerised yarns were found to dissolve faster than their natural versions, suggesting that molecular weight is a contributing factor in affecting the speed of dissolution.] Cite as: [https://doi.org/10.5518/1610] Related publication: [Provide a citation for any article reporting results based on analysis of the dataset. Direct links to related publications can also be added to the Related resources fields in the metadata record. If a publication is in preparation at the time of deposit, provide relevant details where known (authors, title, journal, year, etc.) and indicate status at time of deposit (Submitted; In preparation; Accepted).] Contact: [m.e.ries@leeds.ac.uk] 2. TERMS OF USE --------------- [A standard copyright notice and licence statement with URL can be used, e.g. Copyright [publication year] [University of Leeds, name of other rights-holder(s)]. Unless otherwise stated, this dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.] 3. PROJECT AND FUNDING INFORMATION ---------------------------------- Title: [title of project] Dates: [project start-end] Funding organisation: Grant no.: [Include in this section acknowledgements of all relevant funding sources, including e.g. public and charitable funders, industrial sponsors, and the University. If the dataset was not generated as part of a specific project or with dedicated project funding, you can say e.g. 'This dataset was not created in the course of a funded project.'] 4. CONTENTS ----------- File listing [List by file or folder name and provide brief descriptions of file or folder contents. If files are numerous, provide a key to the dataset structure/relationship between files, and the file naming convention. Files of the same type should be consistently named using a standard syntax where possible. Include information about specialised data file formats, and software used to generate/required to render data files (including version and links where relevant). If relevant, include here any codebook or data dictionary for the dataset or constituent files, providing the following information as required: - Number of variables - Number of cases/rows - List of variables, containing variable name(s), description(s), unit(s)and value labels as appropriate for each - Missing data codes, listing code and definition - Specialized formats or other abbreviations used.] 5. METHODS ---------- [This section should describe how the dataset was generated. The following information should be included as relevant: - Experimental procedures/protocols. - Environmental/experimental conditions, including information such as geographic location and dates of data collection or temporal range covered, as relevant. - Instruments used, both hardware and software, with specification of version, setup, standards, calibration, etc. - Methods used for processing the data, e.g. to clean, transform, quality-assure and analyse data. If software has been used, include name and version of software, and any packages or libraries needed to run scripts. Any code written to process/analyse data should be described and archived with the dataset or made accessible by other means. - If data have been processed from existing sources, citations/links to the sources used. - People or organisations not named as dataset Creators but involved in its production or use in some way, along with information about their role, e.g. PhD Supervisor or person involved in study design, survey service provider that distributed survey and collected responses, co-authors of related paper who contributed to data analysis. - If detailed information about methods is available in an article that has been published or is due to be published, this can be referred to and full details of methods omitted here. If the article has already been fully referenced as the Related publication in Section 1 above, a brief citation will be sufficient here.]