Appearance of textiles is ofutmost importance for its quality control and commercialization. Wrinkling isone of the most important fabric performance properties. Cotton fabrics havehigh absorption and swelling capacity and are most likely to cause crease. Whentextiles like linen and cotton are laundered, it is desired that wrinklesshould be eliminated after the cleaning and drying process. Mechanicaltechniques like ironing are being used, but this is time consuming andinconvenient to some extent. Ironing is a tedious task that tops the list ofunpopular household chores. Therefore there is always an inevitable need foreffective means of reducing wrinkles in textiles. Attempts to reduce wrinklesby means of chemical treatment to textiles are in existence for quite sometime. The advent of synthetic fibres also created an urgency to produce wrinklefree of durable press cotton garments.
Normally wrinkles in fabrics aremeasured by using the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists(AATCC). Under this method, clothes are washed, dried and stored in a definedway. Then they are evaluated by wrinkle smoothness replicas. Results areclassified under five categories; 1,2,3,3.5, 4 and 5. Rating 5 is considered assmooth fabric while 1 is considered as wrinkled.
Researchers have now developed agentle finishing called Comfort-Finish for the finishing of textile endproducts. This minimizes the wrinkles on the fabric. This textile treatmentcomposition imparts anti-wrinkling properties to textiles treated therewith. Theyfacilitate reduction by lubricating the surface of the fibres. Due to thischemical treatment, fewer chances are there for the fibres to get entangledwith each other, thereby resulting in less or no wrinkles on the fabric. Thisnew process is easy to control and can be applied to on woven, knits etc. Atthe same time, the effectiveness of this treatment depends mainly on thequality of the fabric and the treatments given to it. The fabric should be ofhigh quality and has to be pre-treated with liquid ammonia so as to have awrinkle free effect.
This treatment works best withcellulose fibres and their blends. This process is much easier and lessexpensive when compared with moist cross linkage method; which was generally usedearlier. It is less corrosive than the mineral acids commonly used for moistcross linking. It has less formaldehyde values even in the presence of highamount of resins; which makes the fabric non-allergic. This treatment can beeffectively used on wash and wear and wrinkle free shirts, blouses, trousers,sheeting, and work wear. This has low fibre damages and hence results in lessertearing and abrasion over the conventional catalysts. It also preventsyellowing of clothes.
The way of treating wrinkles infabrics has always been ironing right from grandmothers ages. Moderninnovations and creativity had come up with wrinkle free clothing that is alsoenvironmentally friendly. As this process is cost effective and is alsonon-allergic, it will soon see a commercial development.
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