Crease Resistant Finishing of Cotton Fabric with a Complex of Fibroin and Citric Acid

A complex of fibroin and citric acid was prepared and used for the crease resistant finishing of cotton fabrics, which increased the crease resistance of cotton and avoided fabric yellowing caused by citric acid as a finishing agent for cotton. An orthogonal experiment design and variance analysis were adopted to investigate optimum processing parameters for the multiple quality characteristics of treated cotton fabrics. According to range and variance analyses from the orthogonal experiments, fibroin was the most sensitive factor influencing the whiteness index of the fabrics, and citric acid had a more marked effect on crease recovery. The optimum combination of the processing parameters was 4% fibroin, 20 g/dm(3) of citric acid, 5% sodium dihydrogen phosphate, a pH 6 finishing bath and a curing temperature of 130 degrees C.