Abrasion resistance of worsted fabric treated with formic acid and morphological changes of rupture end

The abrasion resistance of wool fabrics can be improved by treatment with polar organic solvent.Worsted fabrics were treated with formic acid at different temperatures and time,and then subjected to 10 000 rubs by Martidale abrasion.Then weight the fabrics before and after treatment.The results indicated that the weight loss of fabric increased gradually when the temperature of treatment was above 90 ℃ and the minimum weight loss was observed when the fabric was treated at 20 ℃ for 12 hours.SEM test revealed that the broken fiber sections exhibited three forms,i.e.,fibrillated fiber ends,round fiber ends and transversely fractured fiber ends.Fibrillated fiber ends dominated in the fabrics untreated or treated with low temperature,and chiefly round fiber ends appeared with the fabrics treated with high temperature.