A Study Effect of Chemical Treatments to Improve

Crease recovery on Cotton Fabric

Technical Review
Raju krushna kupelur

Abstract:
The property of a fabric which enable it to recover from folding deformations, known
as a crease recovery. It is considered as one of the most important properties expected out of
any textile material to make it easy-care when used for making apparels. As compare to all
fibers. Cotton feels comfortable good against skin; it has a soft hand hence cotton is most
commonly used for shirting fabric. Creasing is major problem on Cottonfabrics because of its
free hydroxyl groups in itsstructure. So it affect on appearance of fabric. Therefore cotton
fabric is treated with various chemicals to improve its crease recovery property.
Introduction:
The total appearance value has been correlated with the crease recovery property in
fabric. Cotton is an important fiber in textiles, because of its numerous advantages which
need no explanation. One of the main disadvantages of cotton is creasing after washing. On
creasing the cotton fabrics, the molecular chains in the amorphous region slip past each other,
breaking the weak hydrogen bonds due to stretched chains then form new hydrogen bonds in
the stretched places and thus the fabric holds the creases. So to avoid this drawback cotton
fabrics are treated with various chemicals to improve crease recovery.
Effect of softening Agent:
Softening agents give very smooth and attractive look for garments. And Softening
finishes are among the most important of textile chemical after treatments, with chemical
softeners; textiles can achieve an agreeable, soft hand (supple, pliant, sleek and fluffy), some
smoothness, more flexibility and better drape and pliability. Thus to improve crease recovery
on cotton fabric various types of softeners are used.
Types of softeners
Anionic softeners (sulphated oils, sulphated alcohols, soaps, oil emulsions etc.)
Nonionic softeners (polyethylene emulsion, silicone emulsion, polyoxyethylene
derivatives etc.)
Cationic softeners (quaternary ammonium and other cationic products.)
Effect of Anionic softener on crease recovery angle of cotton fabric;
In case of thick cotton fabric it was shows that crease recovery increased considerably
on application of 2% conc. of anionic softener. But on further increasing the conc. of softener
up to 4% & 6% the crease recovery was decreased.
In case of medium cotton fabric the crease recovery angle was decreased on application of
2% conc. of anionic softener and it increased when fabric was applied to 4% conc. and when
fabric was treated to 6%conc. it was decreased again.
In case of fine cotton fabric the crease recovery angle continuously decrease on increasing the
concentration of anionic softener was observed.

Effect of Cationic softener on crease recovery angle of cotton fabric;

In this the crease recovery of thick cotton fabric was increased after the application of
cationic softener at 2% conc. and on increasing the conc. to 4% crease recovery was
decreased and crease recovery was again decreased on increasing the conc. up to 6% in
cotton fabric.
In case of medium weight cotton fabric similar crease recovery were obtained as In case of
application of anionic softener on fine cotton fabric. That was the crease recovery angle
continuously decreases on increasing the concentration of cationic softener. But In case
cationic softener on fine cotton fabric the crease recovery was continuously decreased on
increasing the conc. up to 4%. On further increasing the conc. to 6% there was slightly
increase in crease recovery angle.
Effect of Nonionic softener on crease recovery angle of cotton fabric;
After finishing cotton fabric with nonionic softener. It shows that crease recovery of
thick fabric decreased up to 2%. It increases when concentration was increased to 4% and
then it decreased when concentration softener was increased to 6% of thick cotton fabric.
In case of medium thickness cotton fabric crease recovery was continuously decreased
up to 4% and it was increased on increasing the concentration to 6%. In case of fine cotton
fabric it decreased from the control sample but it increased on increasing the concentration of
nonionic softener up to 6%.
Effect of plasma treatments:
Plasma treatments improve wet ability, hydrophobic finishing, adhesion, product
quality, functionality of the textile material. And it is a good substitute for chemical finishing
as it causes no environmental pollution.
There are many gases, or mixtures of gases, used for plasma treatment. By varying the
process of parameters such as the type of gas, time and pressure, different finishes can be
obtained. Air, nitrogen, argon, oxygen, nitrous oxide, helium, tetrafluoromethane, water
vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia or their mixtures can be used as plasma
medium. plasma treatment improved the crease recovery angle on cotton fabric for all
samples. With different finish shows that Aragon treated sample is better than oxygen treated
sample. By comparing with their treatment timing 40 minute had a better crease recovery
than 20 minutes.
Effect of Antimicrobial finish:
This type of finish widely used in hygiene and medical sectors. Because antimicrobial
agents are surges designed to kill, or prevent the growth of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi
and viruses).
Antimicrobial finish treated fabric shows more crease recovery angle 110 as compare
to untreated 90.3. By applying antibacterial finish to cotton fabric it shows crease recovery
property slightly increase. Because reason is that during this process starch paste in warp
sheet was removed which causes increase in the crease recovery angle. Hence starch is major
factor in grey stage which affect on crease recovery.
Effect of citric acid:
Effect of citric acid and trisodiumcitrate on crease recovery angle of cotton fabric:

The crease recovery angle decreases by increasing in trisodiumcitrate concentration at

the same concentration of citric acid. Then the increasing in concentration of citric acid the
crease recovery angle gradually increases.
Effect of Citric acid and Temperature:
Increasing in citric acid concentration and curing temperature directly increases the
crease recovery angle. But the maximum concentration of citric acid and lower curing
temperature shows lower crease recovery angle.
Effect of Trisodiumcitrate and Temperature:
The low conc. of trisodiumcitrate and different curing temperature shows high crease
recovery angle. And when increase in conc. of trisodiumcitrate reduce the crease recovery
angle. Butthe best crease recovery angle shows at high curing temperature with high
concentration of trisodiumcitrate than low curing temperature with high concentration of
trisodiumcitrate. The crease recovery angle of cotton fabric is increased by increasing the
concentration of citric acid and curing temperature and the trisodiumcitrate acts as the best
catalyst at all concentration of citric acid and curing temperature. Hence citric acid it found to
be one of the best cross linking agent. And also high concentration of citric acid and
trisodiumcitrate shows excellent crease recovery.
Effect of dimethyloldihydroxyethyleneurea (DMDHEU) and polyvinylacetate (PVAc):
DMDHEU and polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) both are used as cross linking agent. Effect
of PVAc concentration shows the change of crease recovery angle of finished fabric. Dry
crease recovery angle and wet crease recovery angle both are gradually reduced with increase
in PVAc concentration because weightening and stiffing behavior of PVAc. Effect of
DMDHEU concentration shows the change of crease recovery angle of finished fabric. Dry
crease recovery angle and wet crease recovery angle both are gradually increase with
increasing DMDHEU concentration. Because DMDHEU can react with free hydroxyls of
cellulose chains; therefore, it can convert the weak hydrogen bonds between cellulosic chains
to stronger covalent bonds. Therefore, the crease recovery angle of finished fabric improved
by formation of covalent cross-links between cellulosic chains.
Effect of silica nano particles:
Cotton is poor in crease recovery due to its free hydroxyl groups. To enhance the
crease recovery property of cotton, the free hydroxyl groups are either removed by cross
linking agents. Silica nanoparticles intrude more easily into the interior of cotton fiber and
adhere more tightly to the fiber structure. It was observed that, the increase of concentration
of silica nanoparticles contributes more to increase the crease recovery angle of the fabric due
to restriction of the molecular movement in the fiber structure.
Effect of Chitosan:
Chitosan is a new range of chemical which is used to impart protective functional
properties like antimicrobial properties, thermal resistance and protection from soiling in
cotton fabric. With comparing chitosan treated fabric with untreated fabric and resin treated
fabric. Chitosan was treated with 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% conc. with varying the treatment
temperature and time. It shows marginal increase in crease recovery angle of chitosan treated
fabric as compared to the original untreated fabric. But the angles are lower than that of resin
treated fabric. Crease recovery angle (it is sum of CRA of warp way and weft way) for
untreated fabric is 215 and all chitosan treated fabrics with 0.5%, 1% & 1.5% conc. the
Crease recovery angle range up to 230. And the fabric treated with 1% chitosan cured at
170C shows a maximum crease recovery angle of 230. But resin treated fabric shows CRA

of 265. Because chitosan Treatment doesnt involve in cross linking of cellulosic chains, so
therefore marginal increase in crease recovery angle values. So these properties considered as
an added benefit beyond the gains in antimicrobial property, flame retardency and soil release
property.
Effect of Nanosized Colloidal Copper:
Nanotech textile becoming one of the most popular chemical in textiles with their
protective, functional and electronic features. And main importantfeatures of nanotechtextiles are their protective properties.
It was observed thatuntreated cotton sample shows 90 crease recovery angles and for Cotton
treated with nanosized colloidal copper particles shows 99 crease recovery angles. hence
There was little improvement in crease recovery angle. Therefore though the particles entered
in between the polymer chain molecules did not interfere much to the polymer flexibility of
the system.
Effect of poly (vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) concentration:
Poly (vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) as antimicrobial agents. Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) PVP is
synthetic nontoxic water-soluble polymer commonly used in a wide range of application
including pharmaceutical applications. And its film formers protective colloid. It is one type of
binder stabilizer and complexing agents.
Crease recovery angle of the treated cotton fabrics increased from 95 with to 211after
crosslinking with glyoxal and in absence of PVP. CRA is further increased upon addition of
PVP to the finishing formulation and reached its maximum value at 245 upon addition of
30 g/L PVP. Further increase in PVP concentration slightly decreased CRA of the treated
cotton fabrics.