Applying Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis to the Reaction of Formaldehyde with Cotton Cellulose

Abstract

A fractional factorial design of experiments was formulated for the reaction of formaldehyde with cotton cellulose in the presence of hydroxymethanesulfonic acid in the conventional pad-dry-cure process. None of the 30 experimental treatments of cotton offered an attractive balance of durable press performance properties. Ap plication of multiple linear regression analysis to the experimental data resulted in equations relating the experimental variables to eight textile physical properties. These equations were used to calculate predicted values for each textile property that met or exceeded a minimum acceptable specification (MAS). The MAS was satisfied or exceeded (except for Accelerotor abrasion resistance) within small regions of profile plots for finishing reactions only at 140°C and in these cases, with decreasing area of regions for cures of 1, 3, 5, and 7 minutes. Experiments failed to confirm the validity of the regions of MAS. Correlation coefficients for the cellulose-formaldehyde- hydroxymethanesulfonic acid reaction were found to be lower than those for cellulose- DMDHEU reactions. These items are considered in some detail.