Improving Wool Printability at Reduced Energy using UV/ozone Treatment

Abstract

This paper presents an eco-friendly method for wool fabrics to improve printing characteristics without thermal fixation via a UV/ozone pre-treatment. Such treatment causes surface morphological changes and oxidizes wool fabric surfaces. In this study, the changes in surface composition and chemistry induced by this treatment were followed by measuring changes in electron spin resonance (ESR) intensity values and mechanical properties, including tensile strength, elongation percentage and air permeability of the treated wool fabric samples. The pre-treated fabrics were printed and their colour strength (K/S) values with all colour parameters were measured. Fastness properties, such as colour fastness to light, washing and perspiration, were evaluated. Printability of the pre-treated fabrics was compared with that of the printed fabrics by conventional methods. The results showed that the UV/ozone treatment improved printing fixation of dye without energy consumption which is required by conventional methods. The UV/ozone treatment imparts highly printed shades of woolen fabrics at reduced energy with excellent fastness properties of the pre-treated printed fabrics.