Coexisting antistatic and water-repellent properties of polyester fabric

Abstract

It is desirable for textiles to prevent static charges and to repel water. This work used nano-silver antistatic finish and fluorine water-repellent finish in order to determine whether it is possible for antistatic and water-repellent properties to coexist on a single sample of polyester fabric. The antistatic and water-repellent fabric finishes were each tested singly first; both finishes were combined in each of three treatments, namely the one-bath, two-bath A, and two-bath B treatments. The antistatic and the water-repellent properties of the finished fabrics were evaluated by FTTS—FA—009 and AATCC 22 spray rating standards. The nano-silver and fluorochemical finishes individually showed high performance properties on polyester fabric. It was found that the order of the finishing processes has a significant effect on the antistatic and water-repellent properties of polyester fabric. The two-bath B process treated polyester fabric, first with 5 wt% nano-silver antistat and then with 3 wt% fluorine water-repellent. After 10 washings, the fabric finished with the two-bath B process was certified to FTTS—FA—009 A grade for its antistatic properties; it was certified to AATCC 22 spray rating 90 grade for its water-repellent qualities.