Inner Distribution and Deposition of Crosslinked Cotton Fabrics Using a Steeped Process

Abstract

The steeped procedure was used to investigate the physical properties and crosslinking structure. It was found that the values of the N content, dry crease recovery angle (DCRA), and wet crease recovery angle (WCRA) of the treated fabrics with any specific steeped procedure were higher than those of normally treated fabrics. For a given number of crosslinks per anhydroglucose unit (CL/AGU) the crosslinking length (CL length) values for the steep-pad-dry-cure process were higher than those for pad-dry-cure process. All the DCRA and WCRA values for the steep-pad-dry-cure process were higher than those for pad-dry-cure process at a given resin concentration, tensile strength retention (TSR), and CL/AGU. The surface distribution of crosslinking agent on the finished fabrics for pad-dry-cure process was higher than that for the steep-paddry-cure process. The expansion degree of the steep-pad-dry-cure treated fiber is slightly higher than that of the pad-dry-cure process. Those results obtained from pictures of SEM, crosslinking structure, and surface distribution of fibers/fabrics treated by the two processes clearly show that the crosslinking agents could diffuse and self-condensate in the treated fabrics to obtain an inner and longer crosslink under the steeped procedure so as to have good DCRA and WCRA.