An investigation into the effect of laundering on the repellency behaviourof a fluorochemical-treated cotton fabric

The water- and oil-repellency of a cotton fabric treated with a fluorocarbo n finish is shown to decrease with extended laundering. The nature of this diminishing performance is Investigated by time-of-flight secondary-ion-mas s spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which reveal an increase in the surfactants on the fibre surface and a decrease in the fluorocarbon coating as a result of laundering. The effect of heat-p ressing on fabric repellency is also investigated by using XPS.