Mechanism of pretreatments-protease antifelting finishing of wool

Antifelting finishing of wool was carried out with protease,H_2O_2,DCCA,H_2O_2/protease,DCCA/protease respectively,and the surface morphology,wettability and chemical composition of the wool before and after treatment was studied by means of Allworden effect,SEM,dynamic contact angle,interfacial tension and FTIR.The effect of H_2O_2 and DCCA pretreatments on the protease antifelting finishing of wool was investigated.The results showed that Allworden effect of wool fiber disappeared when DCCA pretreatment was performed followed by protease treatment,the scales on the wool fiber was stripped,the wool surface became smooth,and its hydrophobility was improved.Furthermore,DCCA pretreatment made more cystine disulfide bonds being oxidized into cysteine sulfonate and sulfo-alanine,thus providing more reactive sites for the subsequent enzymatic treatment,and in doing so,the wool was imparted with better antifelting effect.