Durable press finishing of cotton fabrics by polycarboxylic acids after graft copolymerization with hydroxyethyl methacrylate

The effects of cotton fabric grafting with hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and treatment with polycarboxylic acids (BTCA-and CA) are studied. FTIR an alysis confirms the successful graft copolymerization of HEMA Onto cotton f abrics. Moisture regain decreases as the graft add-on increases, but the me chanical properties and wrinkle recovery angle (WRA) do not show great chan ges. After introducing many more hydroxyl groups from the HEMA into the cot ton cellulose, BTCA shows much better effects on ap treatment. The WRA of t he grafted fabrics can be improved to 148 degrees from 116 degrees of the c ontrol fabric treated by BTCA hut without pretreatment by graft copolymeriz ation. However, this good result is not observed with the CA treatment. All samples with and without pretreatment by graft copolymerization show the s ame strength loss after Dp treatment.