Dry Finishing Using Plasma Treatment for Shortening the Initial Wet Finishing of Cotton Fabrics

Simultaneity of different processes in finishing of textile products is very useful. It causes reducing energy consumption and increasing the speed of production. Moreover, by this way it is possible to reduce water consumption and environmental pollution. In this research, synchronizing the processes of desizing, scouring and bleaching at ambient temperature for raw cotton fabrics have been investigated using plasma technology. In this work plasma textile activator, under air atmospheric pressure was used. Untreated and plasma treated cotton fabric were desized, scoured and bleached using a solution containing alkaline peroxide and ammonium persulfate as an oxidation accelerator by padding method at room temperature (Cold Pad Batch). In order to evaluate the results of this treatment, the amount of impurities, degree of whiteness and wettability of untreated and plasma treated fabrics were investigated and compared with each other. The results show that the starch partially remains on untreated fabric, while by plasma treatment the starch is completely removed. Plasma treated fabrics have a higher degree of wetting and a higher whiteness than those of untreated. Results of this study indicate that the plasma treatment of cotton reduces the time it takes to remove starch from cotton products. SEM images of untreated and plasma treated fabrics, as well as FTIR spectra of the fabrics; indicate the degradation of starch by the plasma process and the increase of polar groups in cotton fibers. Also, by performing a dry plasma treatment on raw cotton, while allowing the desizing, scouring and bleaching steps to be simultaneously, economized in water and energy at a single stage and at ambient temperature.