RESUMEN
Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fabrics meet the customers' requirements in many aspects. Nevertheless, PAN fabrics suffer from low moisture regain and the accumulation of electrostatic charges on the fabric surface. Some PAN products exhibit rough a surface which is uncomfortable for human skin. Herein, we synthesized a new hydrophilic nonionic softener by reacting a fatty acid (FA), extracted from wool wax, with 2-amino-2-methyl-1,3-propanediol (AMPD). Adopting the pad-dry-cure technique, the synthesized softener was chemically bound to pretreated PAN fabrics. Without deterioration of the fabrics' mechanical properties, new functions have been imparted to the treated PAN fabrics, viz., silk-like hand, induced resistance to the accumulation of electrostatic charges, and improved wettability. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (13C-NMR) were utilized for the structure elucidation of the prepared softener as well as to determine whether AMPD reacts with the fatty acid through its amino or hydroxyl group. The mechanism of the preparation of the softener as well as its mode of action on PAN fabrics were proposed. The effects of the applied softener on air and water permeability, ultraviolet protection factor (UPF), stiffness, tensile properties, and yellowness of the treated fabric were studied. The scanning electron micrographs of the treated fabric revealed the existence of a layer of the applied softener on the fabric surface. The finished fabric was found to be durable against washing for up to 20 cycles in terms of the fabric smoothness and durability.
RESUMEN
As microwaves are known to give fast and rapid volume heating, the present study is undertaken to investigate the use of microwave heating for pretreatment cotton fabrics to reduce the pretreatment time, chemicals and water. The onset of the microwave heating technique on the physicochemical and performance properties of desized, scoured and bleached cotton fabric is elucidated and compared with those obtained on using conventional thermal heating. Combined one-step process for desizing, scouring and bleaching of cotton fabric under microwave heating was also investigated. The dual effect of adding urea, (as microwave absorber and hydrogen peroxide activator) has been exploiting to accelerate the pretreatment reaction of cotton fabric. DSC, FT-IR and SEM have been used to investigate the onset of microwave on the morphological and chemical change of cotton cellulose after pretreatment and bleaching under microwave heating. Results obtained show that, a complete fabric preparation was obtained in just 5 min on using microwave in pretreatments process and the fabric properties were comparable to those obtained in traditional pretreatment process which requires 2.5-3h for completion.
