Comparison of Plasma-Aided Desizing with Conventional Desizing of Polyacrylate on PET Fabrics

The influence of He/O2 atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) treatment on subsequent wet desizing of polyarylate on PET fabrics was studied in present paper. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed an increased surface roughness after the plasma treatment. SEM also showed that the fiber surfaces were as clean as unsized fibers after 35 s treatment followed by NaHCO3 desizing. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis indicated that oxygen-based functional groups increased for the plasma treated polyacrylate sized fabrics. Compared to conventional wet desizing, plasma treatment could significantly reduce desizing time.