22—shrink-Resisting Wool With Silicone Polymers: The Effect of Added Polybutadiene

Abstract

Experiments are described which show that the level of shrink-resistance conferred on wool by a silicone polymer can be improved by adding a small amount of polybutadiene and cobalt naphthenate catalyst to the formulation. The presence of the polybutadiene increases the adhesion between the polymer and the wool fibres, and this is thought to be responsible for the improved shrink-resistance. Thermal oxidation and cross-linking of polybutadiene occur readily in the presence of cobalt ions via free-radical reactions, which may well lead to grafting between the polymer and the wool. Such grafting would increase the adhesion of the polymer to the fibres.

Effects of Epoxide and Silicone Polymers on the Mechanical and Performance Properties of Wool Fabric

“…Figure 5 shows that the epoxide treatment does not affect the frictional coefficient of the wool fabric surface in either the warp or weft direction. SILICONE TREATMENT _ Organo-functional silicone softeners containing only silanol groups or epoxy-functional groups are usually used for wool fabric to give a permanent softening effect, but the reaction with silanol groups is easily hydrolyzed because of the difference in the electronegativity of the carbon and silicone [6,7,10]. In this study, wool fabrics were treated with silicone polymers-amino-functional polydimethylsiloxane (AFS), epoxy-functional polydimethylsiloxane (EFS) and their mixture (AFS/EFS).…”

“…Modifications to the properties of wool in order to improve performance, such as wrinkle recovery and prevention of photoyellowing, have received considerable attention in recent years [6,8,11]. Among the useful chemical techniques, epoxide treatments appear to provide an effective means of improving fiber properties without drastically changing the mechanical characteristics of the original fibers [20].…”

“…Among these, organo-functional silicone polymers contain organo-functional groups, such as vinyl, epoxy, mercapto, or amine, which react with other organic substrates and provide durability [7,18,21 ]. Improved wear comfort with a bulky and smooth hand, wrinkle recovery, and physical properties depend on the molecular weight and type of the functional group of the silicone polymer [1,6,11,13].…”