Application of silk sericin to polyester fabric

Abstract

Abstract Sericin powder was prepared from a boiled solution of silk cocoons through salting‐out with ammonium sulfate. The obtained sericin powder was characterized with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X‐ray, ultraviolet (UV) absorption, and nitrogen content measurements. The aqueous sericin solution was applied onto the polyester fabric (pretreated with NaOH) along with glutaraldehyde as a crosslinking agent with a pad–dry–cure method. The processing conditions of the crosslinking agent were optimized. The presence of sericin was confirmed by the estimation of the nitrogen content and amino groups on the treated fabric. The dyeability of the treated fabric with acid and reactive dyes was studied. The performance properties, such as the moisture content, UV absorption, antistatic, crease recovery, and bending length, of the treated fabric were tested. The FTIR, X‐ray, UV absorption, and nitrogen content results confirmed the purity of the sericin powder obtained with the salting‐out method. The amino acid content, nitrogen content, and Kubelka Monk function ( K / S ) values of the sericin‐treated fabric increased with an increase in the concentration of sericin in the padding liquor. The K / S value of the dyed samples was found to be linearly correlated with the number of amino groups present on the samples. There was a noticeable improvement in the moisture content and antistatic and UV absorption properties of the sericin‐treated fabrics. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008