Improvement of the felting and shrinking resistance of wool using environmentally acceptable treatments

Abstract

Abstract Abstract The present investigation aims to establish an environmentally safe condition for felt- and shrink-proofing of wool fibres. This has been performed by using the 'hydrogen peroxide/tetraacetyl ethylene diamine', or 'hydrogen peroxide/nonanoyl benzene sulphonate' system to liberate the respective organic peracids. The in situ liberated organic peracids lead to oxidation of wool surface and production of non-feltable wool. After-treatment with cationic reactive polymer (Hercosett 617) has also been carried out to achieve maximum degree of felt and shrink resistance of wool to cope with that used for production of machine washable garments. A systematic study has been carried out to investigate the effect of the different reaction parameters on the extent of improvement of the felting and shrinking resistance of wool. The effect of these treatments on the inherent properties of wool has been also studied. Scanning electron micrographs of the treated wool fibres have shown that the scales on wool surface were partially removed and uniformly coated by Hercosett without severe attack on the fibre interior. Keywords: Woolfelting resistanceenvironmentally friendlyperacidsHercosett