FINISH APPLICATIONS ON BLEACHED AND SCOURED COTTON IN IMPROVING NONWOVEN PROCESSING

Bleached and scoured cottons present difficulties in sequent processin g into nonwovens. These difficulties can be minimized by adding some l ubricant/antistatic finishes to the fibers. Four commercial finished w ere studied in improving the nonwoven processing. One silicone-based s oftener (Ucarsil (R) EPS) was found to be most effective. Fourier tran sform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used in this study to determine the distribution and the amount of finish applied to the cotton web, and to study the physical and chemical interaction between finish and fiber.