C. W. Kan

Chemical Silver Plating on Cotton and Polyester Fabrics and its Application on Fabric Design

Metallization is one of the finishing processes in textile treatment that can produce a unique fabric appearance. It appears to have great potential for application to garments for both functional and decorative effects. Chemical plating is an autocatalytic deposition method that can be used for precision work in conventional manufacture. This study has investigated the method for using chemical silver plating on cotton and polyester fabrics and the final properties of the metalized fabrics. The results showed that specific performance of the silver-plated fabric could be obtained if the optimum chemical plating condition was chosen. In addition, fabric design practice employing this chemical technique with the design method could achieve diverse effects.

Low Temperature Plasma on Wool Substrates: The Effect of the Nature of the Gas

Low temperature plasma (LTP) with three different nonpolymerizing gasses—oxy gen, nitrogen, and a 25% hydrogen/75% nitrogen gas mixture—are used to study the influence of the nature of each gas on the properties of wool substrates. The properties include fiber-to-fiber friction, feltability, fabric shrinkage, surface structure, dyeability, alkali solubility, and surface chemical composition. After the LTP treatment, those prop erties of the LTP-treated substrates change, and the changes depend on the nature of the plasma gas used. All the results are discussed quantitatively.

Determining Functional Groups of Commercially Available Ink-Jet Printing Reactive Dyes Using Infrared Spectroscopy

An infrared (IR) spectroscopic technique was used to determine the possible functional groups and chemical compounds present in commercially available ink-jet printing reactive dyes of four primary colours, i.e. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Although other instrumental analytical methods can help to determine the actual chemical composition of reactive dyes, the IR technique alone can still provide important structural information about the commercially available reactive dyes. Experimental results revealed that the reactive dyes under determination contained the same functional groups and chemical compounds as the reference reactive dyes.

USING NANO-TiO2 AS CO-CATALYST FOR IMPROVING WRINKLE-RESISTANCE OF COTTON FABRIC

In order to prevent cotton wrinkling, hydroxyl groups in the cellulose chain of cotton are partially crosslinked to keep the chain fixed relative to each other with dimethylol dihydroxy ethylene urea (DMDHEU). However, DMDHEU suffers disadvantages of reduced fabric strength and releasing of free formaldehyde. Recently, 1,2,3,4-butane tetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) has been explored as a new wrinkle-resistant agent providing similar performance to that of DMDHEU. In BTCA finishing, catalyst of inorganic phosphorus-containing acids was used but such phosphorus compounds have an adverse impact on the environment. In this paper, nano-TiO2 was used as a co-catalyst with sodium hypophophite in the treatment of cotton with BTCA, and the final properties were assessed.

The effect of low-temperature plasma on the chrome dyeing of wool fibre

Abstract Wool fibre treated by low-temperature plasma (LTP) using different non-polymerising gases was dyed with chrome dye. The rate of dyeing, the time of half-dyeing (t1/2), the final dyebath exhaustion, the chromium exhaustion and the chromium fixation were studied. The results showed that LTP treatments can alter the dyeing properties to various degrees. The nature of the LTP gases plays an important role in affecting the behaviour of chrome dyeing.

The effect of the pretreatment print paste contents on colour yield of an ink-jet printed cotton fabric

Optimum condition concerning the content of pretreatment print paste and steaming time for ink-jet printing was newly developed through the orthogonal analysis. The cotton fabric treated under the newly developed optimum condition could achieve a high level of colour yield similar to that of the commercially pretreated cotton fabric available in the market for ink-jet printing. The results were discussed thoroughly in this paper.

Improvement of wrinkle-resistant treatment by nanotechnology

In this research, the non-formaldehyde wrinkle-resistant treatment of cotton fabrics has been investigated using the 1,2,3,4-butane tetracarboxylic acid as cross-linking agent and sodium dihydrogen hypophosphite as catalyst together with nano titanium dioxide as co-catalyst compound. The effect of changes in the concentration of 1,2,3,4-butane tetracarboxylic acid and nano titanium dioxide on the wrinkle recovery angle, tensile strength, tearing strength and bending length of cotton fabrics was evaluated. It was found that the addition of nano titanium dioxide could enhance the wrinkle resistance and decrease the bending length of the cotton fabric with little effect on the tearing and tensile strength of the treated fabrics.

Effect of Low Temperature Plasma, Chlorination, and Polymer Treatments and Their Combinations on the Properties of Wool Fibers

In this study, wool fibers are treated with low temperature plasma, chlorination, polymer deposition, and their combinations. The treatments are classified into four categories for easy discussion. After the treatments, the surface properties in term of feltability, fiber damage, and dyeability are assessed and quantitatively discussed, and the relationships between the different properties are statistically assessed.

Digital ink-jet printing for chitosan-treated cotton fabric

In this paper, chitosan was suggested for using as a replacement for sodium alginate in the pretreatment print paste for digital ink-jet printing for cotton fabric. Pretreatment print pastes prepared from the mixture of chitosan and acetic acid with the appropriate viscosity gave satisfactory prints on the cotton fabric. Chitosan-treated cotton fabrics were digitally irk-jet printed with four different colors and the color fastness rating of the printed fabrics was satisfactory. Experimental results revealed the possibility of pre-treating the cotton with chitosan to replace the sodium alginate normally present in the pretreatment print paste recipe.

Dyeing behavior of low temperature plasma treated wool

In this paper, the effects of low temperature plasma (LTP) treatment on the dyeing properties of the wool fiber were studied. The wool fibers were treated with oxygen plasma and three types of dye that commonly used for wool dyeing, namely: (i) acid dye, (ii) chrome dye and (iii) reactive dye, were used in the dyeing process. For acid dyeing, the dyeing rate of the LTP-treated wool fiber was greatly increased but the final dyeing exhaustion equilibrium did not show any significant change. For chrome dyeing, the dyeing rate of the LTP-treated wool fiber was also increased but the final dyeing exhaustion equilibrium was only increased to a small extent. In addition, the rate of afterchroming process was similar to the chrome dyeing process. For the reactive dyeing, the dyeing rate of the LTP-treated wool fiber was greatly increased and also the final dyeing exhaustion equilibrium was increased significantly. As a result, it could conclude that the LTP treatment could improve the dyeing behavior of wool fiber in different dyeing systems.