EFFECTS OF ALTERNATIVE PRE-TREATMENTS ON PERFORMANCE OF DURABLE PRESS FINISHED FABRIC

Wrinkle recovery of cotton fabrics has attracted much attention, especially for the last 20 years. It is known that N-methylol based chemicals used in these applications cause release of formaldehyde which is a toxic, allergenic and carcinogenic chemical. This has caused researchers to focus on alternative approaches. One of them is using compounds that release lower amount of formaldehyde to the environment. In this study, chemicals with low formaldehyde-release potential are applied on half-bleached, bleached, and bleached mercerized optical brightening cotton fabrics, and their wrinkle recovery angles, breaking strengths, and CIE whiteness index values are measured. Moreover, shirting fabrics which are the most popular subjects of durable press finishes, are bleached and then treated with durable press finish in varying liquor ratios, and drying and curing temperatures, and their resulting wrinkle recovery angle, breaking strength and CIE whiteness index values are measured.