Crosslinking of Wool with Epoxide

Abstract

Wool fabric is treated with a simple pad-dry-cure process using glycerol polyglycidyl ether, a multifunctional epoxide, to improve wrinkle recovery. Crosslinked samples with different add-ons are obtained by varying the epoxide concentration in the reaction system. Crosslinking of wool with epoxide is indirectly demonstrated by a solubility test, SEM, and FT-IR spectrometry. The crystalline structure of the crosslinked wool fabric remains unchanged, despite epoxide treatment. Moisture regain is reduced as epoxide concentration increases. Chemically modified wool fabrics show improved wet and dry wrinkle recovery behavior due to crosslinking. The effect of crosslinking on the glass transition temperature ( Tg) of wool is investigated using differential scanning calorimetry. The Tg of dry wool is predicted by plotting the reciprocal of Tg as a function of the water weight fraction using the Fox equation. The Tg of the samples increases with crosslinking. A thermomechanical analysis confirms that although the temperature of the final contraction peak of the crosslinked wool samples is similar to that of the untreated sample, it drops substantially above 20% epoxide concentration, suggesting less thermal stability.