Liquid Ammonia Treatment of Regenerated Cellulosic Fabrics

Abstract

Liquid ammonia is effective at improving the strength, shrink resistance, and hand of cotton fabric. In this study, we apply a liquid ammonia (NH3) treatment to three regenerated cellulosic fabrics—rayon taffeta, cupro taffeta, and polynosic broadcloth— and subsequently process these with hot water and dry heat. We investigate the effect of the processes on crystal form, crystallinity, moisture regain, water absorption, and dyeing properties. Also, the mechanical properties of the NH3-treated fabrics are measured in relation to fabric hand. The diffraction intensity profiles of the rayon taffeta are unchanged by the NH3 treatment and subsequent heat processing. The profile of cupro taffeta is not changed by the NH3 treatment, but it is transformed to cellulose IIIII by subsequent hot water and dry heat processes. On the other hand, although the profile of polynosic broadcloth is transformed to cellulose IIIII by the NH3 treatment, the profile is not changed by hot water and dry heat. Furthermore, fabric crystallinity decreases with the NH3 treatment and increases somewhat after the hot water and dry heat processes. Water absorption and equilibrium dye uptake decrease with the NH3 treatment. Excellent washing shrinkage resistance is obtained with the NH3 treatment. The shearing and bending parameters of the rayon and cupro fabrics decrease somewhat with the NH3 treatment, so this treatment of regenerated cellulosic fabrics is effective at improving hand as well as washing shrinkage.

Effect of Liquid Ammonia on the Fine Structure of Linen Fabrics

“…The commercial liquid ammonia treatment is generally applied to cotton products and the beneficial effects of liquid ammonia on the strength, abrasion resistance, dye absorption and color yield of cotton fabric have been well documented in the scientific literature [4][5][6][7]. Only a very few publications focused on the liquid ammonia treatment of linen and linen-containing fabrics, or fabrics from other fibers [8][9][10][11]. 1 Our initial investigation of the effects of liquid ammonia treatment on the physical properties of linen fabrics indicated that significant improvement in wrinkle recovery could be achieved especially for the heavier, more loosely constructed linen fabrics.…”

Determination of optimal system parameters to characterize the wrinkle recovery of fabrics by an integrated shape retention evaluation system

“…Liquid ammonia finishing has been reported as an effective method to improve the wrinkle resistance property of fabrics, [27][28][29] resulting in an increase in WRA and thereby being expected to contribute to smaller curve parameters. In order to study the sensitivity of the ISRES with the selected system parameters in evaluating the change of wrinkle recovery of fabrics, two sets of fabric samples before and after liquid ammonia finishing are tested by the ISRES.…”

Adsorption properties of direct dyes on viscose/chitin bicomponent fiber: evaluation and comparison with viscose fiber

“…Three diffraction peaks were observed at angular positions (2q) of approximately 12.4 , 20.4 and 21.8 , indicating the crystalline structure of cellulose II. 19,20 The inclusion of partially deacetylated chitin into the viscose/CH ber had no obvious impact on the crystalline structure of viscose ber. Crystallinity degrees of the viscose/CH and viscose bers determined by a peak separation analysis were 41.5% and 34.8%, respectively.…”