Particle Shedding from Cotton and Cotton-Polyester Fabrics in the Dry State and in Washes

Abstract

The influence of 3, 10 and 50 washing cycles on the properties of cotton fabric and cotton-polyester blend in plain weave, was investigated in this study. In addition to the analysis of tensile properties in weft and warp directions and thickness, the number of particles produced in the dry state was also measured after 3, 10 and 50 washes. After washing, the entire effluent was analysed by determining the total suspended solids (TSS), the total solids (TS), the pH value and the conductivity. To determine the similarity of the observed wash cycles and properties of all processed samples, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was performed. The fabric changes indicated by total wear in the warp direction after 50 washing cycles compared to unwashed ones amounting to 41.2% for cotton and 30.9% for cotton-polyester blend, may be attributed to the synergy of washing factors and raw material composition. Cotton fabric produced significantly more particles than cotton-polyester fabric in the dry state after the examined washing cycles in all size categories. A smaller number of released particles are in the larger size category >25 μm. The obtained TSS values confirm the degree of loading of the effluent with particulate matter from the analysed fabrics, since the detergent consists of water-soluble components. The HCA dendrograms confirmed that the release of particles during the first washing cycles is mainly determined by the structural properties of fabrics, while in the subsequent cycles the synergistic effect of chemical, mechanical and thermal effects in the interaction with the material prevailed.

Influence of Yarn and Fabric Properties on Mechanical Behavior of Polymer Materials and Its Retention over Time

“…The standard deviation for all elongations at break for unaged and aged materials is low, and there are no statistically significant differences between elongations at break. These results are in contrast to the study by Pušić et al, who show that aging has a significant influence on the change in elasticity of the polyester material [ 31 ].…”

Sustainable Aspects of Multiple-Use Woven Fabric in the Hospital Environment: Comfort and Textile Dust Generation Perspectives

“…For each sample, the measurements were performed on 5 test tubes. This method was adopted from EN ISO 9073-10 [37] Textiles-Test methods for nonwovens-Part 10: Lint and other particles generation in the dry state, with the test time adjusted to 30 min [19,20]. Due to the large number of particles released in total, the number of particles is displayed graphically in logarithmic values for easier presentation of the results.…”

“…The amount of textile dust produced can be reduced by choosing a suitable raw material composition and by optimising the structural and morphological characteristics of the fabrics such as yarn fineness and crimp, fabric density and weave of the fabric. The surface of the fabric wears out with use and care, resulting in the release of textile dust [18,19].…”

“…Flinčec Grgac et al [19] investigated the release of textile dust from cotton fabric and cotton-polyester-blend fabric before and after multiple washing cycles. It was found that the samples from the cotton-polyester blend (65/35) released significantly less textile dust compared to the 100% cotton fabric, considering the total number of particles.…”

Influence of Aging on the Physical Properties of Knitted Polymeric Materials

“…It was also shown that the degradation of the polymer occurs in the crystalline phase. As for polymers for apparel applications, the aging protocol should consider the regular care process as well as the polymer treatments, in addition to the environmental factors in aging [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. As reported in studies, the care factors themselves can influence the increase of material strength as a result of polymer fibrillation and material shrinkage [ 27 ].…”