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.