Durable Press Finishing of Cotton Fabrics by Polycarboxylic Acids After Graft Copolymerization with Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate

The effects of cotton fabric grafting with hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and treatment with polycarboxylic acids (BTCA and CA) are studied. FTIR analysis confirms the successful graft copolymerization of HEMA onto cotton fabrics. Moisture regain decreases as the graft add-on increases, but the mechanical properties and wrinkle recovery angle (WRA) do not show great changes. After introducing many more hydroxyl groups from the HEMA into the cotton cellulose, BTCA shows much better effects on DP treatment. The WRA of the grafted fabrics can be improved to 148° from 116° of the control fabric treated by BTCA but without pretreatment by graft copolymerization. However, this good result is not observed with the CA treatment. All samples with and without pretreatment by graft copolymerization show the same strength loss after DP treatment.