THE EFFECT OF FUNCTIONAL FINISHES AND LAUNDERING ON TEXTILE MATERIALS.2. CHARACTERIZATION OF LIQUID FLOW

The effect of finishes and laundering on the liquid flow in cotton and polyester-fiber fabrics is investigated. The liquid flow can be categ orized into vertical wicking and demand wettability. Since the liquid flow in fibrous materials is affected by the pore size, based on the W ashburn equation, the effect of fabric pore size and pore-size distrib ution was also studied. The presence of the three different finishes ( durable-press, stain-repellent, and antistatic) and laundering changed the vertical-wicking and demand-wettability phenomena owing to change s in the surface energy of fibers and/or changes in pore characteristi cs. However, the results from vertical wicking and demand wettability did not always agree. The vertical-wicking test was more sensitive to finishing treatments and responded in a more predictable way. In gener al, changes in liquid flow in finished fabrics can be predicted from t he surface energy of the fiber in the fabrics and the pore size and po re-size distribution in the fabrics, as expressed by the Washburn equa tion. To assess the relationship between liquid flow in fabrics and th e surface properties of fibers quantitatively, however, it is necessar y to have specific information on the number of pores in a fabric, in addition to the data on the pore-size distribution.