Oil Take Up and Removal by Washing from Polyester, Polyester/Cotton Blend and Other Fabrics

Abstract

Oil stains of various types are much more easily removed from filament polyester fabric and from filament nylon than from staple polyester fabric or from staple poly ester/cotton blend. Filament polyester fabric takes up only about 20% as much oil from dilute aqueous emulsion as does' staple polyester fabric of approximately similar weight per unit area during side-by-side soiling, and the oil is much more tenaciously held by the staple fabric. In practical wear/wash tests on coats fat-soiled by use in a fish and chip establish ment, filament polyester and filament nylon are easily washed at 48°C and present no problem. Staple polyester and staple polyester/cotton blend fabrics are much more difhcult to clean at 48°C, although satisfactory cleaning is obtained if the staple polyester/cotton blend carries a Cirrasol PT (Permalose T) finish. Washing the untreated staple polyester, staple polyester/cotton blend, and the cotton fabrics at 85°C, instead of 48°C, goes a substantial way towards satisfactory cleaning, although it does not completely solve the problem. The slight creasing produced on these fabrics is removed by light ironing. The difference in behavior between the staple and filament fabrics is not due to differences in surface area, which are comparatively slight. Scanning electron micros copy reveals heavy deposits of fat on the staple fabric, these being largely held between the criss-cross randomly spaced fibers. No such deposits are present on the filament fabric, the fat being mainly on the fibers themselves. In washing, the oil is almost completely removed from the filament fabric, but portions still remain on the staple cloth, largely held in the V-shaped areas where the fibers cross each other.