An investigation into the modification of cotton fibres to improve crease resist and repellancy properties

• Main Author: Shekarriz, Shahla
• Published: University of Manchester 1999
• Subjects: 677
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.556104

This research has investigated the modification of cotton fabric in order to improve the crease resist and liquid repellency properties. The project has involved studying the interaction of crease resist finishes and fluorochemical finishes and their subsequent durability to laundering and abrasion. Since the surface chemistry of fluorocarbons and detergents is vitally important to the effectiveness of the finishes, surface analytical techniques, such as, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) have been utilised. A number of poly carboxylic acids (zero-formaldehyde) were examined, in combination with sodium hypophosphite (SHP) in order to impart high crease recovery to cotton fabrics. Butane tetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) has been shown to be the best crease resist agent for crosslinking cotton fabric with SHP, giving a similar high fabric crease recovery performance and whiteness index to the traditional formaldehyde based crease agents. In addition BTCA treatment offers higher tensile/tear strength compared to fabric treated with dimethylol dihydroxyethylene urea (DMDHEU). Subsequent UV irradiation of the fabrics significantly improved the initial whiteness of the crosslinked cotton fabrics. Treatment of Jarosol sulphur dyed cotton fabrics with BTCA and SHP resulted in improved washfastness due to "locking" the dye inside the fibre. In combination with the UV absorber, CIBATEX UPF, the poor lightfastness of the dyeing system was improved significantly.