Materials Science Forum Vol. 1117

Abstract: Cotton has traditionally been mercerised as hanks of yarn or as open-width fabrics, but commercial methods to mercerise loose stock directly after ginning have been limited. Arnold and Rippon [1,2] produced continuous lengths of fully mercerised sliver with increased fibre strength, enhanced dye-uptake, improved surface lustre, without fibre shrinkage. Not only did the method prevent shrinkage, but fibres could be stretched by as much as 4% and then stably set. The disadvantage of this method was that fibre had to be fully processed to sliver form.An improved prototype machine has now been successfully developed to continuously mercerise ginned loose stock. Testing has confirmed that the output fibres are mercerised along their full lengths and have higher tenacity compared with the un-mercerised Control. Fibre lengths have also been maintained, indicating that the shrinkage normally caused by slack mercerising has been prevented. Fibre dyeability is comparable with that of slack-mercerised samples but better than the un-mercerised Control. The improved lustre expected for fibre mercerised under tension has also been confirmed. The production rate of the process can be readily improved, and the prototype expanded in size to increase output.

Abstract: This study was performed to investigate comfort properties and antimicrobial activity of cotton and nylon knits treated with microcapsules containing sea buckthorn fruit oil reported as having antimicrobial efficacy depending on concentration of microcapsules and treatment types. Chitosan-arabic gum microcapsules containing sea buckthorn fruit oil were prepared and they were treated on cotton and nylon/PU knit respectively by an experimental design of 2 different treatment types (bath immersion method and screen printing method) Χ 5 different concentration levels of microcapsules (20, 30, 40, 50, and 60% on the weight of fabric). As comfort properties, stiffness, water-vapor permeability, and air permeability were measured objectively. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated by calculating the percentage reduction of the bacterium. As results, stiffness values of the treated knits were slightly higher than those of untreated ones, which was thought not to affect touch in wear. The values of water-vapor permeability and air permeability of both cotton and nylon after the treatment were not significantly decreased. These results means that microcapsules loaded on the knits might not worsen their wear comfort. As for antimicrobial activity, more than 90% of bacterial reduction rates against S. Aureus were shown in cotton jersey by screen printing even after repeated laundry while those was found in nylon/PU tricot by bath immersion. From these results, it was concluded that chitosan-arabic gum microcapsule containing sea buckthorn fruit oil could be utilized for textiles to provide antimicrobial activity.