Impact of vitamin E in improving comfort, moisture management and mechanical properties of flame-retardant treated cotton fabric.

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to analyze the use of vitamin E to enhance fabric's hand feel, moisture management and fabric strength which are affected due to flame retardant finish. Flame retardant treated fabrics typically become stiff, but the addition of Vitamin E along with emulsifier and binding agent through a vertical padding mangle by two times dipping and nipping results a soft fabric without impairing the flammability properties as determined by 45-degree flammability test. The samples were characterized by FTIR spectra, SEM images, and water contact angle. A new characteristics band is appeared at 1455 cm-1 for skeletal vibration of phenyl ring system of alpha tocopherol for Vitamin E measured by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) that proves the effective attachment of vitamin E with fabric. Hydrophilicity of vitamin E containing sample is discovered after showing 37.629° as a water contact angle at optical tensiometer (Attension theta lite). Additionally, fabric comfort properties, moisture management properties, and mechanical properties were measured by fabric touch tester (FTT), moisture management tester (MMT) machine and tensile strength tester respectively that demonstrate significant affirmative change in almost all indexes of FTT, 43.5 % increase of overall moisture management capacity by MMT and 23 % increase of tear strength by tensile strength tester due to use of vitamin E that effectively compensate lower strength, poor fabric comfort, and low moisture management capability of flame retardant treated fabric.