Nikhil Yogesh Upadhye
Department of Textiles (Textile Chemistry)
DKTE’S Textile and Engineering Institute, Ichalkaranji, India
Intern at Textile Learner
Email: nyupadhye@gmail.com
Introduction
Finishing is the processing operations applied to grey fabrics to enhance their appearance, and hand properties. To improve appearance, like luster, whiteness etc. And to improves feel which depends on the handle of the fabric and its softness, to improve the wearing qualities, likes non-sailing anti-crease etc. It imparts the serviceability of the material promotion of dimensional stability of the material hence finishing is important for a textile goods before they are placed on the market all that part comes under the conventional finishing process. It’s imperative to article a series of advancements in finishing of textile materials soon see the ways of process and procedures are often improved upon, to realize better performance products. Tons of interesting advancements are witnessed within the last twenty years within the clothing and textile industry. During this article, different methods of textile finishing are hereby explained. Whereas the conventional methods of finishing including wet and dry finishing techniques are still being practiced on cotton and woolen fabrics, advanced textile finishing techniques may include functionalization using nano-coatings, surface modification using enzymes, microencapsulation, and therefore the strengthening of synthetic fibers with nano-coatings and nano-clays.
Recent Advancements in Textile Finishing
1. Microencapsulation:
Microencapsulation is a process by which very tiny droplets or particles of liquid or solid material are surrounded or coated with a continuous film of polymeric material. The product obtained by this process is called as Microencapsulos.
The fragrance compound and the essential oil are volatile substances. The most difficult task in preparing the fragrance emitting textile is how to prolong its lifetime of odor. Micro-encapsulation is an effective technique to solve this. Microcapsules are minute containers that are normally spherical if they enclose a liquid or gas, and roughly of the shape of the enclosed particle if they contain a solid. It can be considered as a special form of packaging, in that particulate matter can be individually coated for protection against environment and release the volatile substance from the enclosed capsule as required. This property has enabled microcapsules to serve many useful functions and find applications in different fields of technology. For example, the storage life of a volatile compound can be increased markedly by microencapsuling.
The key to aromatic textile is how to make microcapsules of fragrance com-pounds and essential oils without omitting any ingredient in order to ensure its effects. In addition, using a low-temperature polymer binder to attach a perfumed microcapsule to the surface of the textile is also an important part of preparing an aromatic textile. At the same time, durability in laundering and a soft handle should be carefully considered.
Application:
1. Padding Method
The fabric is padded with above recipe
Fragrance: 10% of weight of fabric.
Padding pressure 2kg/cm2
Dry and cure at 70ºC-120ºC (1-5 min.)
Figure 2: Pad-dry-cure method
2. Exhausting
Prepare the recipe with water up to desired concentration
Exhaust at 40C for 20 – 30 min.
Hydro extract water
Use Fragrance : 5-10% on weight of fabric
Figure 3: Exhaust method by jigger
2. Nanotechnology:
Textile Nanofinishing- I
Nanosphere finish- from Clariant and Schoeller Technologies AG repels liquids, dirt, and stains from ketch up; oil and red wine run off the surface. Toray, Japan, claims to have developed ‘Nano- Plem’ technology. This gives nylon and polyester fabrics, as well as Terylene/wool blends, water repellent properties and colour resilience. BASF’s Mincor TX TT nanofinish is a composite material made up of nanoparticles encased in a carrier matrix. This finish may offer a solution for fabrics such as polyester awnings, sunshades, flags, and sails that are frequently used in an outdoor environment; As a result, they cannot be washed in a washing machine. Natural or synthetic fibers, like cotton, can be made soft and comfortable. Nano- TouchTM fabric technology is known for grafting a cotton-like outer layer around a synthetic fiber core permanently.
Textile Nanofinishing- II
Properties of metal nanoparticles and metal oxide nanoparticles to interact with light and microorganisms have the potential to provide significant desired effects in textile materials. Textile and fiber finishing are investigating the topic. To use nanoparticles that are risk-free throughout their life cycle, special considerations are required (production, application, consumption, and disposition). Nanofinishes made of metal oxides can provide flame retardancy, UV blocking, and self-cleaning properties, while nanosilver particles can provide antimicrobial properties. High cost, incompatibility with aqueous systems, and a tendency to cause discoloration in textiles are some of the known issues with nanosilver.
Figure 4: Textile Nanofinishing
Textile Nanofinishing- III
Metal oxide nanofinishes- Organic embedded metal oxide; ZnO nanoparticles, with an average size of 383 nm as determined by TEM, were dispersed in a soluble starch matrix using a water-based technique. The antibacterial activity of the treated cotton fabric against Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae cultures, as well as UV radiation, was significantly improved. For UV protection, a concentration of nano-ZnO of 0.6 wt. percent was recommended for clothing textiles, and a concentration of 1.0 wt. percent was recommended for antimicrobial textiles. To investigate the mechanical properties of nylon 66, nanograde TiO2 was added during the melt extrusion process. TiO2– nylon composite fibers showed increased resistance to photo-tendering after being exposed to artificial day light for up to 750 hours. It was discovered that adding 5 wt. percent TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed in acrylate and ethanol to treated nylon 6.6 and Kevlar fabrics improved their UV protection. In nylon, a similar effect was observed. Similar effect was also seen in nylon 6. Biological protective textiles can be produced using nanoparticle form of TiO2 and MgO.
3. Clay finishing and composite fibers:
Clay materials are being used in textile finishing to take advantage of their microstructural layer by layer properties in finishing technical textile materials into composite fabrics due to the nature of clay microstructure. Flame retardant, barrier properties, dimensional stability, and to some extent electrical properties were all significantly improved in polymers reinforced with 2–5% nanoclays. The use of functionalized nanoclays, particularly montmorillonites (MMTs), to improve the mechanical properties of polypropylene thermoplastics has piqued researchers’ interest. Nanoclays’ commercial viability is primarily due to their lower cost, wider applicability to most synthetic polymers, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polyamide fibers (nylon 6,6 and 6,10), and end-product performance enhancement. Composites applications in the form of fiber, filament, or fabric, on the other hand, have received little attention in terms of research or application.
4. Plasma technology: Plasma treatment is a surface modification process in which a gas (air, oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, and so on) is ionized by the presence of two electrodes separated by a high-frequency electric field and injected inside a reactor at a pressure of approximately 0.5 mbar. It is one of the recent advancements in textile finishing. The need for a vacuum is justified by the need to obtain a “cold plasma” with a temperature of less than 80 Degrees Celsius. This, with the same energy content that can be reached at atmospheric pressure at a temperature of some thousands of degrees C, permits the treatment of fabrics even with a low melting point such as polypropylene and polyethylene, without causing any form of damage. The fabric, as it moves through the electrodes, is bombarded by the elements that make up the plasma (ions, electrons, UV radiation, and so on), which are formed by the decomposition of gas and have a high kinetic energy. The surface of the fabric exposed to plasma action is modified both physically (roughness) and chemically to remove any remaining organic particles and to prepare for the subsequent introduction of free radicals and new chemical groups inside the molecular chain on the material’s surface. However, because the treatment is limited to the first molecular layers, the mechanical properties are unaffected.
5. UV protective finish: The need of UV protective finish arises as the realization of depletion of Ozone layer day by day. Hence these finishes are of chief importance as it can resist the impact of harmful UV rays and let the human skin in undamaged form.
Figure 6: Textile materials attack by UV radiation
UV protective finish is applied during dyeing under a reductive process. This method is applicable by exhaust as well as padding method. Nano silver and nano metal oxide namely TiO2, ZnO are used for coating.
The method of application is: Padding: 2gpl non-ionic detergent at 100ºC for 1 hour. Later the fabric is dipped in Nano sol for 1 min. Later Drying is carried at 80ºC for 20 min.
Conclusion
From the above description, we get to know that, there are many advancements going on in applications of functional textile finishing. By application of functional finishes desirable properties can be imparted to fabric and it also gives value addition. In the field of functional finishes many innovative ideas are being explored. In next decade new concepts may be introduce for imparting desirable properties to fabric and garments.
References
Textile Finishing Recent Developments and Future Trends by Dr. K.L. Mittal
Principles of Textile Finishing by Asim Kumar Roy Choudhury
Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. He is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.
