Atmospheric plasma treatment of polypropylene fabric for improved dyeability with insoluble textile dyestuff

Polypropylene (PP) fabrics were activated by an atmospheric pressure, dielectric barrier discharge to optimize the effects of some discharge parameters on the dyeability of PP fabrics. Air and argon plasmas were used to modify the surfaces of the fabrics, and the effects on dyeability were investigated when the treated fabrics were dyed by leuco and pigment forms of vat dyestuffs. Surface properties of plasma-treated samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Vat-dyed samples showed a significant increase in color strength when PP fabrics were pretreated with atmospheric pressure plasmas of either argon or air.     

全球棉花及棉纺织品和服装零售的趋势

1全球棉价走势 全球棉价的长期平均值为每磅72美分。自1995年WTO农业协议生效以来，全球棉价持续走低，2001年跌至每磅42美分左右，是29年以来的最低水平（见图1）。仅在2003年11月棉价才在短期内突破76美分（见图2）。随后又急剧下跌，于2004年12月跌至每磅43美分。棉价上涨的主要原因是棉价触底后。全球棉花库存持续减少，供需失衡造成的。近期棉价（2005年11月17日）维持在每磅56美分左右。     

Digital ink-jet printing for chitosan-treated cotton fabric

In this paper, chitosan was suggested for using as a replacement for sodium alginate in the pretreatment print paste for digital ink-jet printing for cotton fabric. Pretreatment print pastes prepared from the mixture of chitosan and acetic acid with the appropriate viscosity gave satisfactory prints on the cotton fabric. Chitosan-treated cotton fabrics were digitally irk-jet printed with four different colors and the color fastness rating of the printed fabrics was satisfactory. Experimental results revealed the possibility of pre-treating the cotton with chitosan to replace the sodium alginate normally present in the pretreatment print paste recipe.     

Improving wrinkle resistance of cotton fabric by montmorillonite

Cotton fabric was treated with montmorillonite (MMT) so as to evaluate its effectiveness on improving its wrinkle resistance. The MMT in emulsion form was applied to cotton fabric by padding and finally the wrinkle resistance of the MMT-treated cotton fabric was improved. Furthermore, instrumental methods were used for studying the presence of MMT particles on the cotton fabric surface. It was noted that nano-scale MMT particles adhered on the fiber surface and the particle size played an important role in influencing the wrinkle resistance of the cotton fabric. The experimental results are discussed thoroughly in this paper.     

N-halamine-bonded cotton fabric with antimicrobial and easy-care properties

N-halamine precursor 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl piperidinol (TMP), a hindered amine light stabilizer, was bonded onto cotton fabric by using 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) as a crosslinking agent. A variety of treating conditions including TMP concentration, curing temperature and time, and catalyst were studied. The treated fabrics were characterized using FTIR spectra and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The cotton fabric treated with TMP precursor could be rendered biocidal upon exposure to dilute household bleach. The chlorinated cotton swatches showed great efficacy and inactivated 100 % of Staphylococcus aureus with 7.1 log reduction with 5 min of contact and 83.25 % of E. coli O157:H7 at 10 min of contact. In addition, the wrinkle recovery angle of the treated cotton fabrics increased from 229 ° of untreated cotton fabrics to 253 °. This study provided a practical finishing process to produce cotton fabrics with easy care and antibacterial functionalities at the same time.     

Flame retardant properties of triazine phosphonates derivative with cotton fabric

The flame retardant behavior of cotton fabric treated with phosphorus-nitrogen containing triazine compound was evaluated. It was found that cyanuric chloride (2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine) is an excellent starting material for the preparation of phosphonate flame retardants that interact well with cotton to improve flame resistance (FR) performance. Tetraethyl 6-chloro-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diyldiphosphonate (TECTDP) has been prepared by a simple one-step reaction in high yield (98.0 %). Cotton fabrics treated with TECTDP result in covalent bond formation between TECTDP and hydroxyl groups in cotton fabrics. This FR system provides an efficient flame retardant for cotton textiles at low cost to meet government mandates. In this study, the FR material was synthesized and characterized by ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and LC-MS spectroscopy. The chemical structure of cotton twill fabric treated with TECTDP by pad-dry-cure method was analyzed by FT-MIR and SEM. Furthermore, the thermal and flammability properties were evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), limiting oxygen index (LOI, ASTM D-2863-09), and a vertical flame test (ASTM D-6413-08).     

Performance of cotton fabric treated with an amino-terminated hyperbranched polymer

An amino-terminated hyperbranched polymer (HBP-NH₂), synthesized from methyl acrylate and diethylene tri-amine by polycondensation, was applied to treat cotton samples by a pad-dry-cure method. Physical properties, salt-free dye-ability, antimicrobial activity, and antiultraviolet property of the treated cotton samples were tested. The crystallinity and mechanical properties, including breaking strength, breaking elongation, and Young’s modulus of the treated cotton fibers, increased slightly in comparison with those of the untreated cotton fibers. The thermal stability and the moisture regain were also improved slightly. Dyed with direct dyes and reactive dyes in the absence of the electrolytes, the treated cotton fabric showed similar or higher color strength compared with the untreated cotton fabric in conventional dyeing. The treated cotton fabric can also be dyed with acid dyes effectively. In addition, the treated cotton fabric showed good antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). The study of the antiultraviolet properties of the treated cotton fabric indicated that the HBP-NH₂ contributed to the reduction of UV transmission and the increase of UPF.     

Modification of cotton fabric by mussel-inspired for oil/water separation

An oil/water separation cotton fabric with high separation efficiency has been successfully developed by combining mussel-inspired one-step copolymerization approach and Michael addition reaction. The cotton fabric was first coated with the adhesive polydopamine (PDA) film by simple immersion in an aqueous solution of dopamine at pH of 8.5. Then n-dodecyl mercaptan (NDM) was conjugated with PDA film through Michael addition reaction at ambient temperature. The chemical structure, surface topography, and surface wettability of the fabric were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy, and contact angle experiments, respectively. The results showed that as-prepared cotton fabric had highly hydrophobicity with the water contact angle of 145° and superoleophilicity with the oil contact angle of 0°. It exhibited desirable property of oil/water separation, and it had excellent potential to be used in practical applications and has created a new field for oil/water separation.     

Dimensional stabilization of cotton plain weft knitted fabric using mercerization treatment

Investigation on dimensional stability of cotton plain weft knitted fabric manufactured from rotor spun yarn, subjected to mercerization treatment has been represented. Several fabric samples were mercerized considering variation in time of treatment, bath temperature, concentration of alkali solution and also mercerizing tension. Values of constant of course (K _c ), constant of wale (K _w ), the area geometry constant (K _s ) which are indicative of fabric dimensional stability were calculated after treatment for mercerized samples. Then, these values were compared with those of un-treated samples subjected to dry and wet relaxation and also were compared with each other. Based on the effect of each variable itself and their simultaneous effect, it was concluded that, mercerization treatment and considered parameters had a distinctive influence on dimensional stability of the fabric. Mercerized samples had better dimensional stability in comparison with un-treated ones. A comprehensive experimental analysis showed that, there is meaningful difference between K _s values of the samples mercerized at various conditions. Also, the area geometry constant (K _s ) achieved after treatment was higher than that of other relaxation methods.     

The bioscouring efficiency and activity of alkaline pectinase for cotton fabric

Alkaline pectinases could be applied in the bioscouring for cotton textiles to improve the wettability of the fabric. In order to evaluate the bioscouring effect of cotton fabrics directly and simply, the relationship between the amount of products degraded by alkaline pectinase and the wettability of the fabric was established with spectrophotometry. The results showed that products degraded by an alkaline pectinase Bioprep 3000L exhibited one characteristic absorption peak at 239 nm, which indicated that unsaturated degradation products were yielded. During the bioscouring of the cotton fabrics, the increase of the amount of both unsaturated degradation products and reducing sugars released from the pectins existing in raw cotton fiber was consistent with the improvement of wetting property of the cotton fabrics with prolonging the treatment time.     

Properties of cotton fabric after irradiation with infrared CO2 laser

Thermal effect of interaction between laser beam and fabrics presents a risk of material damage, because strong laser beam energy is applied to a very small area of fabric. At present infrared laser beam is widely applied to decolouration of denim fabrics, cutting of textiles. There were investigated the morphology, color change and mechanical properties of irradiated samples of cotton fabric. Chemical damage of cotton fibers was quantified by copper number and behaviour of dissolved polymer. Results was discussed in connection with practical applications.     

An investigation of color fading of sulfur-dyed cotton fabric by plasma treatment

Popularity of clothing with different kinds of faded color effects has been growing in recent years, leading to development of several technologies and techniques for imparting the vintage and old-fashion look. However, most color fading technologies and processes involve use of significant quantities of chemicals and water, raising concerns about environmental pollution, and other related problems. It is quite difficult to control the color fading effect on textile products. Plasma treatment has been used for color fading of cotton apparel quite successfully in the last few years. Air is used as the color fading agent and therefore no chemical effluents are generated. This study examines color fading of sulfur dyed cotton fabrics with plasma treatment. Cotton fabrics (yellow color) dyed with sulfur dyes were plasma treated under varying conditions and the resultant color fading effect was evaluated instrumentally. The color fading effect was found to be quite controllable if the treatment parameters were properly selected. Besides, evenness of the end product was excellent.     

A two-bath method for digital ink-jet printing of cotton fabric with chitosan

In our previous research, the possibility of using chitosan in preparing the pretreatment print paste for digital ink-jet printing for cotton fabric was investigated but the final color was not good as expected. In this paper, we modified our previous work by applying the chitsoan separately on the cotton fabric for digital ink-jet printing. A two-bath method was thus proposed and it was confirmed that a better color yield was achieved with this method. However, the use of chitosan reduced the tensile strength of the digital ink-jet printed fabric slightly.     

Application of silver nanoparticles to cotton fabric as an antibacterial textile finish

A novel nano-silver colloidal solution was prepared in one step by mixing AgNO₃ aqueous solution and an amino-terminated hyperbranched polymer (HBP-NH₂) aqueous solution under vigorous stirring at room temperature. All results of Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and UV/Visible Absorption Spectrophotometry indicated that silver nanoparticles had been formed in colloidal solution. Cotton fabric was treated with nano-silver colloid by an impregnation method to provide the cotton fabric with antibacterial properties. The whiteness, silver content, antibacterial activity and washing durability of the silver-treated fabrics were determined. The results indicated that the silver-treated cotton fabric showed 99.01 % bacterial reduction of Staphylococcus aureus and 99.26 % bacterial reduction of Escherichia coli while the silver content on cotton was about 88 mg/kg. The antimicrobial activity of the silver-treated cotton fabric was maintained at over 98.77 % reduction level even after being exposed to 20 consecutive home laundering conditions. In addition, the results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed that silver nanoparticles have been fixed and well dispersed on cotton fabrics’ surface and the major state of the silver presented on the surface was Ag⁰.     

Ultrasonic dyeing of cationized cotton fabric with natural dye. Part 2: Cationization of cotton using Quat 188

The dyeing of cationized cotton fabric with 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride 69% (Quat 188) using Cochineal dye was studied using both conventional and ultrasonic techniques. Factors affecting dye extraction and dye bath exhaustion were investigated. The results indicated that the dye extraction by ultrasound at 300 W was more effective at lower temperatures and times than conventional extraction. Also, the colour strength values obtained were found to be higher with ultrasound than with conventional techniques. However, the results showed that the fastness properties of the dyed fabrics with ultrasound are similar to those of the conventional dyed fabrics. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were measured for cationized cotton fabrics dyed with both conventional and ultrasound techniques, thus showing the sonicator efficiency.     

Some physical properties of resin-treated 100% light-weight plain knitted cotton fabric

100 % cotton light-weight plain knitted fabrics were treated with resin using different concentration by conventional pad-dry-cure method so as to influence their physical properties such as wrinkle-resistant, smoothness, dimensional properties and bursting strength. After resin treatment, the wrinkle-resistant property, smoothness and dimension stability of the four fabrics were consequently improved even after simulated domestic laundering process. The experimental results were reported and discussed thoroughly.     

Colour fading effect of indigo-dyed cotton denim fabric by CO2 laser

In this study, denim fabric was treated with CO₂ laser under different combination of laser process parameters, i.e. resolution and pixel time, in different irradiation directions, i.e. warp and weft directions. Experimental results revealed that the laser power increased with increment of resolution and pixel time. The colour fading effect was increased with the increase of laser power but an optimum colour fading effect was achieved. Meanwhile, the colour levelness of the laser treated denim fabric was good according to quantitative measurement. However, it was noted that the direction of laser irradiation did not affect the colour fading effect and colour levelness.     

Durable press finish of cotton fabric using malic acid as a crosslinker

It has been considered that malic acid,α-hydroxy succinic acid, could not form crosslinks in the cellulosic materials unless activated by other polycarboxylic acids such as butanetetracarboxylic acid or citric acid because there are only two carboxylic acids per molecule available for the formation of one anhydride intermediate. However we found that the dicarboxylic malic acid with sodium hypophosphite catalyst without the addition of other crosslinkers was able to improve wrinkle resistance of cotton up to 294° (dry WRA) and 285° (wet WRA), which is a measure of crosslinking level in cotton.¹H FT-NMR, FT-IR and GPC analysis indicated the in-situ formation of an trimericα, β-malic acid with a composition of 1:3 through the esterification between hydroxyl group and one of carboxylic groups in malic acid during curing. The crosslinking of cotton was attributed to the trimericα, β-malic acid, a tetracarboxylic acid, which can form two anhydride rings during curing. The influence of crosslinking conditions such as concentrations of malic acid and catalyst, pH of the formulation bath, and curing temperature were investigated in terms of imparted wrinkle resistance and whiteness. The addition of reactive polyurethane resin in the formulation slightly increased the mechanical strength retention of crosslinked fabric coupled with additional increase in wrinkle resistance.     

Populations of malodor-forming bacteria and identification of volatile components in triolein-soiled cotton fabric

Clothing is easily contaminated with various soils, including triglyceride-based sebum and sweat. These triglycerides generate malodors as a result of oxidation in the air and by hydrolysis caused by lipases from the microorganisms living on our skin. This research focused on the reactions of a skin flora, Staphylococcus epidermidis, with triolein on cotton fabric. The growth rate of S. epidermidis increased with increasing concentration of the nutrient medium. The growth rate of S. epidermidis on a triolein-soiled cotton swatch was higher than that on a control swatch. FT-IR analysis of extracts from triolein-soiled cotton fabric cultured with S. epidermidis showed changes in the molecular structure of triolein. When the incubation time was increased to above 72 h, the carboxylic acid C=O stretch increased continuously, indicating continuous degradation of triolein. GC-MS was used to identify the volatile components, i.e., the odor constituents. By 168 h of cultivation of S. epidermidis on triolein-soiled cotton fabric, the amount of aldehydes had greatly increased, and unsaturated aldehydes, alcohols, and a ketone were generated. These are formed by oxidation of triolein and by enzymatic hydrolysis of ester bonds. S. epidermidis and the volatile components were removed best in the bleach-added detergent solution. The effects of laundering solutions on the removal of microorganisms were more conspicuous than on the removal of volatile components.