crush easily. To make them competitive with other fibres, a variety of shape-retentive finishes are given. This process is known as shape retention finishing.
The initial process was for the purpose of making spun rayon fabrics
wrinkle-resistant. This was followed by similar treatment for cotton and linen. With further development, chemical finishes were added to cotton fabrics for what became known as wash and wear cottons. A further extension of this is the development of permanent press, which is used on cotton-blend fabrics as well as wool and wool blends.
These finishes are all based on resins or reactants that will combine
chemically with the fiber through a process called cross-linking, whereby adjacent molecular chains of cellulose in the fiber are linked or tied together to provide greater molecular rigidity and to prevent intermolecular slippage.
Earlier used chemical finished was urea-formaldehyde.
The most widely used agent is di-methyloldihydroxydimethylethylene
urea (DMDHEU)
All of these finishes reduce by 30 to 50 percent the tensile and tear
strength of the fabrics to which they are applied, as well as reducing the abrasion resistance.
the wrinkle-resistant finishes. Garments made of fabrics with wash and wear finishes will dry smooth and need little or no ironing after washing, depending upon the quality of the finish and the construction.
The fabrics have a good soft hand and a neat appearance. Wash and
wear finishes have been used primarily on broadcloth and oxford shirting but are also applicable to other types of cotton fabrics.
SUBTRATES
FINISHING PROCESS
DURAPRESS
o Durable press finishes can be defined as those chemicals or method
creases
and
pleats
throughout
wearing
and
cleaning.
Heat setting of synthetic fibres can provide durability for creases and
pleats.
Further more, synthetic fibres that are quite resilient may not require
dimethyloldihydroxyethyleneurea (DMDHEU).
It has two- OH (hydroxyl) groups and two-NH2OH (methylol) groups
treated , the resin reacts only with the cellulosic fibres in the blend.
After the resin treatment, the fabric is dried and then it is cured at high
temperature.
It is in this step where the chemical reaction takes place.
with a chemical reducing agent such as mono ethanolamine sulphite which temporarily inhibits the wools resilience. When the garment is pressed, the heat resets the wools memory with this crease so that the fabric always tends to return to the new creased condition. Moisture increases this reaction and when wet (worn in the rain for instance) the crease tends to become sharper.
of manufacturing.
The additional step required and the cost of special equipment for
finishing both contribute to this increase in price that is passed along to the consumer.
Use and care-durable press fabrics, like their forerunners the crease-
resistant and wash- and-wear fabrics, exhibit some loss in strength and particularly a decrease in abrasion resistance.
Frosting also takes place due to breakage and loss of fibres because of
abrasion.
satisfactory durable press made some of these fabrics rather stiff. They did not drape as well and were less comfortable to wear in warm weather than untreated fabrics.
If fabrics were not given an adequate after rinse, they had a fishy
odour.
durable press finishes. Under hot, humid conditions, the reaction forming the finish can reverse, releasing formaldehyde.
One approach has been to alter the methylol groups in DMDHEU that
are the source of formaldehyde. Finishes based on this approach show minimal formaldehyde release but are not as cheap or effective as the traditional commercial finish.
multiple acid groups that can react with cellulose molecules forming ester bonds. Fabric finished with this have good durable press features with better strength retention and abrasion resistance but are either expensive or cause yellowing of the fabric.
Modified and new approaches are being developed to reduce and eliminate problems of strength loss, abrasion rsistance and color degradation. Among these are methods which would alter the molecular structure the molecular fiber so as to increase the strength.
The fiber construction can be oriented by swelling with sodium
hydroxide without tension and allowing the cotton to shrink, then stretching the yarn while it remains in the caustic soda. This technique has been found to increase the strength of the permanent press cotton so that it is equal to that of untreated cotton after 20 launderings.
has been found to improve luster, tensile strength, wrinkle resistance, flex life and hand of goods that are subsequently cross linked.
A steam cure followed by a dry cure of cross linked cotton is also
effective and importantly, to provide about 300% greater abrasion resistance than the convention method.
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