Physical properties of cotton fabrics and free CH2O content in crease-resistant finish with DMEU/MMEU prepolymer mixture

Combinations of ethylene urea and paraformaldehyde with different mol ratio s are used as source materials to synthesize a DMEU/MMEU resin prepolymer i n various mixing ratios. The DMEU/MMEU resin prepolymer is then applied to the cease-resistant finish of cotton fabrics. The results show that the dry and wet crease-recovery angles and nitrogen and free formaldehyde contents increase with increasing curing time, curing temperature, and mol ratio of paraformaldehyde, while the tensile strength retention decreases. Optimize d relations between both physical and chemical properties can be obtained b y mixing the source materials in a 1 : 1.5-1 : 1.7 ratio, drying at 80 degr ees C for 5 min, and curing at 150 degrees C for 3 min. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.