Effect of Colloidal Silica Treatments on Sizing and Finishing Characteristics of Cotton Yarns1

Abstract

Cotton in lap form was treated with a colloidal silica compound, and together with an untreated lap was processed into 15/1, 36/1, and 50/1 yarns. Samples of these yarns were used for control, for mercerizing, for bleaching, and for dyeing. Analyses of ash content were made on these four sets of samples. In addition, other samples of the yarns were used to assess the reaction to slashing, desizing, and abrasion. In general, the presence of colloidal silica, on medium and fine carded yarns, did not affect the operations of mercerizing, bleaching, and dyeing. Yarn strength differences between treated and untreated samples were of the same order after as before each of these chemical processes. Quantitative tests (ash-content analyses) to determine the effect of these processes on the permanence of the colloidal silica on the fiber were inconclusive.