For producing antibacterial textiles, the conventional finishing processes have high productivity and low processing costs, but textiles finished in these ways exhibit low durability against laundering. Therefore, cotton fabrics were bleached with hydrogen peroxide, finished with triclosan, and then treated with polycarboxylic acids such as 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) and citric acid (CA) as crosslinking agents to provide durable antibacterial properties. The surface of fibers treated with BTCA had a greater crosslinked area, and the surfaces of fabrics treated with CA were exposed to greater amounts of deformation due to the mechanical and chemical influences after 50 launderings. The bleaching and finishing treatments did not dramatically affect the breaking strength. However, the polycarboxylic acid treatment (both BTCA and CA) alone showed reductions in the breaking strength when the acid concentration was increased. The polycarboxylic acids were fairly effective against both bacteria, even at lower concentrations, when they were applied to stand-alone cotton fabrics, whereas the antibacterial activity decreased somewhat after the use of polycarboxylic acid and triclosan in the same recipes. Adding polycarboxylic acids to the antibacterial finishing recipes enhanced the durability after 50 launderings, and the durability of the recipes containing BTCA was much higher than that of the recipes containing CA.

To reduce the quantity of chemicals required to produce flame retardant polyester fabrics, a low-frequency oxygen plasma treatment at low temperature (<50 C) was carried out before padding the polyester fabrics with alkyl-phosphonatestructured flame retardant agents. The concentration of the flame retardant agent was varied to determine the plasma treatment effect on the amount of chemicals used in the finishing process. All padded fabrics which had pre-plasma treatment or not, were also washed five times to determine the washing resistance. The surfaces of the polyester fabrics were characterized by FT-IR (ATR) and SEM. The flame retardant performances of the polyester fabrics were evaluated by the LOI test. Hydrophilic characteristics of the polyester fabrics were also tested after the plasma treatment. According to the results, the hydrophilic properties of the polyester fabrics improved after oxygen plasma treatment. Moreover, the plasma treatment allowed the reduction of the flame retardant concentration to 50 g/L in the padding system, however, it was out of the optimal concentration range; the chemical amount consumed was half of the maximum concentration without the LOI changing significantly.

In this study raw and degummed silk fabrics are treated with low frequency oxygen plasma and ozone in order to investigate the effects on the physical properties of silk. Plasma and ozone treatments are performed individually and in combined order for 5, 10 and 15 min. The yellowness and whiteness values are determined after the plasma and ozone treatments. The tensile strengths of treated and untreated silk fabrics are measured. The SEM images of the surfaces of silk fabrics are investigated and the combined effect of ozone and plasma treatments are discussed after each test. Results indicate that there is more significant decrease in ozone treatment, considering decrease in whiteness indexes and increase in yellowness values of silk fabrics when compared to the plasma treatment. Generally, when the treatment time of plasma or ozone is increased, increase of yellowness and decrease of whiteness become clear.

No abstract

Nowadays, the methods and techniques used in the textile industry are required to be environmentally friendly, and water and energy saving. In addition to these, they should transfer more than one functionality, in other words give multifunctionality to the textile material with reliable and sufficient results in terms of efficiency and permanence. With the increase in and diversification of today's industrial requirements, one functionality on the fabric may be insufficient to meet the requirements, and therefore the subject of multifunctionality holds an important place in the textile industry. Therefore, in this study flame retardant, antibacterial and water-repellent, single-layered multifunctional 100% cotton fabrics with different functionalities on different sides (back and face surfaces) of the fabric were obtained via a chemical foam application method, which has many advantages compared with conventional methods. In some of the experimental parts, impregnation and foam application methods were combined in the process in order to optimize the multifunctionality properties of the fabrics. In order to indicate the performance test of cotton fabric, vertical burning test, contact angle test, antibacterial test against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, color spectrum analysis and tearing strength test were carried out while, in terms of characterization tests, Fourier transform infrared (attenuated total reflectance) and scanning electron microscope analyses were performed. According to the test results, the flame retardancy effect of the samples was improved significantly while antibacterial results showed a 99% reduction of bacteria and the finished fabrics demonstrated improved water repellency with contact angles up to 125°. In addition, the functionalities were durable up to 50 washing and 50 drying cycles.