CHEMICAL FINISHING OF COTTON .3. MULTIFINISHING OF COTTON FABRIC IN ASINGLE-STAGE PROCESS

The technical feasibility of multifinishing of cotton fabric through c onducting easy-care, flame retardancy and grafting treatments in one-s tage process using the pad-dry-cure method was studied. In essence, th e treating formulation consisted of etherified methylolated melamine ( EMM), Pyrovatex Cp and acrylamide along with ammonium sulphate (cataly st for reactions involving EMM and Pyrovatex (p) and potassium persulp hate (initiator for acrylamide grafting). The multifinishing treatment was carried out under different conditions including concentrations o f EMM, Pyrovatex Cp, acrylamide, ammonium sulphate and potassium persu lphate, as well as curing temperature and time. Results obtained indic ated that increasing the acrylamide concentration in the multifinishin g formulation caused enhancement in the percent add-on, nitrogen conte nt and flame retarding properties of the multifinished fabric, while d ecreasing the crease recovery, tensile strength and elongation at brea k. Similar effects were obtained upon increasing the concentration of EMM, Pyrovatex Cp and ammonium sulphate. Raising the curing temperatur e from 120-degrees to 200-degrees was accompanied by increased add-on and decreased tensile strength and elongation at break. The nitrogen c ontent and crease recovery increased by increasing the temperature upt o 160-degrees and 140-degrees, respectively, then decreased. Maximum f lame retardancy was obtained at a curing temperature of 160-degrees. I ncreasing the curing time from 1 to 5 minutes increased the add-on and decreased the tensile strength and elongation at break. Nitrogen cont ent and flame retardancy increased with curing time up to 3 minutes, t hen decreased. The highest crease recovery was achieved after 1 minute curing. Explanation of these findings was reported.