The effect of crosslinking agents and reactive dyes on the fibrillation of lyocell

Abstract

A yarn-on-yarn abrasion test method has been developed that is capable of effectively monitoring the wet abrasion of lyocell fibers. The test system is sensitive to the effect of reactive dyes and colorless crosslinkers. Improvements in wet abrasion performance were observed with bifunctional and tri-functional dyes, contrasting with the relatively ineffective non-crosslinking mono-functional dye. Colorless crosslinkers similarly improved the wet abrasion. Under the experimental conditions used in this study, the dry yarn-on-yarn breakdown of the lyocell appeared to occur by a different mechanism than the wet abrasion. In contrast to the beneficial effect of crosslinking on the wet abrasion, the most effective "wet" crosslinker had a deleterious effect on dry abrasion, while the less effective "wet" crosslinkers had less impact on dry abrasion resistance.