The feasibility of a complete enzymatic one-bath pre-treatment of the cotton fabric at low temperature was investigated in this study. The cotton fabric was enzymatically desized, scoured and bleached with an enzyme mixture of starch-degrading enzymes, pectinases and glucose oxidases, respectively. Starch-degrading enzymes hydrolyzed the sizing agent into glucose. Glucose oxidases catalyzed the oxidation of β-D-glucose to D-glucono-ω-lactone and simultaneously generated hydrogen peroxide. The desizing and hydrogen peroxide generation each took one hour. For bleaching, hydrogen peroxide was converted into peracetic acid by incorporating the bleach activator tetra acetyl ethylene diamine (TAED). Bleaching took place at 50°C and neutral pH, where peracetic acid is most effective. Pectinases were added into the pre-treatment bath to remove pectins from fibers and improve their wettability. Whiteness values, water absorbency, polymerization degree and tenacity at maximum load were measured on pre-treated samples. The total organic carbon, pH and biodegradability were measured on residual pre-treatment baths. It was established that hydrogen peroxide can be efficiently enzymatically produced from the sizing agent and converted with TAED to form peracetic acid to bleach the cotton fabric. Cotton fabrics with a medium degree of whiteness, W = 51, and good water absorbency can be obtained at low water and energy consumption.

The bleaching of textile fibers with peracetic acid (PAA) results in adequate whiteness at low temperature and neutral pH media. PAA can be added to the bleaching bath in the form of a commercial solution or can be produced in situ in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) with the addition of a bleach activator, tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED), or arylesterase enzymes. In the present study, a knit fabric from regenerated bamboo fibers was bleached with four different PAA bleaching processes: with only PAA, with PAA or H2O2 in combination with TAED, and with H2O2 in combination with arylesterase enzymes. The knit fabric was also bleached conventionally with H2O2 for comparison purposes. Whereas the conventional H2O2 process was carried out at 90℃ and in highly alkaline pH media, the bleaching processes with PAA were carried out at 65℃ and in neutral to slightly alkaline pH media. The bleaching processes with PAA have a strong whitening ability that is comparable to that of the conventional bleaching process with H2O2. The highest whiteness index of the bamboo knit fabrics bleached by different processes was measured after the bleaching process with PAA in combination with TAED (WI 71.2). Overall, with PAA bleaching processes, bamboo knit fabrics with a high degree of whiteness, high water absorbency, and high tenacity can be obtained with low water and energy consumption.

Technical textile materials with multifunctional protective properties represent one of the largest and fast growing segments of the textile industry. Multifunctional water-and oil-repellent and fl ame-retardant coating on polyester (PES) fabric was prepared in this research using fl uoroalkyl-functional siloxane (FAS) as the water-and oil-repellent fi nishing agent and organophosphonate (OP) as the fl ame-retardant agent. A fi nishing solution containing FAS and OP of appropriate concentrations was applied to the untreated and oxygen plasma-treated PES fabric samples using the pad-dry-cure method. For comparison, single-component FAS and OP fi nishing solutions were applied to the fabric samples under the same conditions. The coated PES samples were washed under standard conditions. The morphological, chemical and functional properties of the coated PES samples were determined with scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, wet pick up, liquid contact and sliding angles measurements as well as oil repellence and vertical burning tests. The results reveal that oxygen plasma treatment prior to fi nishing signifi cantly increased the wettability of the PES fi bres, which directly resulted in increased concentration of the absorbed fi nishing agents. This treatment enabled the creation of PES fabric with simultaneous superhydrophobic, oleophobic and fl ame-retardant properties. Although the superhydrophobic and oil-repellent characteristics of the coating were preserved after washing, the fl ame retardancy was hindered because of the removal of OP in the washing bath. Keywords: polyester fi bre, fi nishing, multifunctional properties, water and oil repellence, fl ame retardancy, washing fastnessIzvleček Tehnični tekstilni materiali z večfunkcionalnimi zaščitnimi lastnostmi so eden največjih in najhitreje rastočih segmentov tekstilne industrije. V raziskavi so pripravljene večfunkcionalne vodo-in oljeodbojne ter ognjevarne apreture na poliestrski (PES) tkanini z uporabo fl uoroalkil-funkcionalnega siloksana (FAS) kot vodo-in oljeodbojnega apreturnega sredstva in organofosfonata (OP) kot ognjevarnega apreturnega sredstva. Apreturna kopel, ki je vključevala FAS in OP ustrezne koncentracije, je bila nanesena na neobdelano in s plazmo kisika predhodno obdelano tkanino PES s postopkom, ki je vključeval impregniranje, sušenje in kondenziranje. Za primerjavo sta bili na tkanino PES pri enakih pogojih naneseni tudi enokomponentni apreturni kopeli s FAS oziroma z OP. Apretirani vzorci tkanine PES so bili oprani pri standardnih pogojih. Morfološke, kemijske in funkcionalne lastnosti apretiranih vzorcev so bile določene z vrstično elektronsko mikroskopijo, infrardečo spektroskopijo s Fourierjevo transformacijo, nanosom kopeli, stičnimi koti in koti zdrsa tekočin, oljeodbojnostjo in ognjevarnostjo. Iz rezultatov je razvidno, da je obdelava s plazmo kisika pred apretiranjem močno povečala omočljivost vlaken PES, kar je neposredno vplivalo na povečanje koncentracije adsorbiranih apreturnih sredstev. Tak...

No abstract

A new functional, stimuli-responsive microgel coating on polyamide 6 (PA6) fabric with simultaneous temperature (T)-and pH-responsive moisture management, UV protection and photocatalytic self-cleaning properties was prepared by applying poly-(N-isopropylacrylamide)/chitosan (PNCS) microgel in combination with ZnO nanoparticles to PA6 fabric. Two diff erent application procedures were used: (i) the application of PNCS previously functionalized with a ZnO nanoparticles suspension and (ii) the application of PNCS with the subsequent application of a ZnO nanoparticles suspension. The coatings were fabricated on the untreated PA6 fabric as well as on fabric previously modifi ed by the silica matrix created by the sol-gel precursor iSys MTX in order to increase the adsorption ability and uniformity of the coating. The chemical and morphological properties of the coated PA6 samples were determined by SEM and FTIR analyses. Stimuli responsiveness and functional properties were assessed by the moisture content, water vapour transmission rate, water uptake, UV protection and photocatalytic self-cleaning measurements. The results show that the application procedure as well as the pretreatment of PA6 fabric greatly infl uenced the properties of the coating. Accordingly, the most appropriate procedure included the creation of a silica matrix on the PA6 fi bres followed by the application of PNCS and subsequent application of ZnO. In this case, the modifi ed PA6 fabric exhibited high T and pH responsiveness due to the swelling/de-swelling activity of the PNCS microgel, as well as good UV protection with UPF equal to 18.8 and photocatalytic self-cleaning properties that are even higher than those in the case of the one-component coating with ZnO.