Abstract:

Grafting chitosan (CS) onto cotton fabric by UV-irradiation was performed using citric acid (CA) as cross-linking agent and sodium dihydrogen phosphate as catalyst. The effect of concentration of CA and bathing time on the grafting percentage of CS was investigated. The optimum conditions were determined as follows: CS 15 g/L, CA 100 g/L, sodium dihydrogen phosphate 20 g/L, bathing for 60 min at 70℃, then curing at 130℃ for 5 min, and then vacuum drying at room temperature for 24hrs. The grafting percentage of CS was 2.69%. The dyeing property, air and moisture permeability, crease recovery and softness of the treated and untreated cotton fabrics were discussed. The results showed that in compared with the untreated fabric, the dye uptake rate of the treated fabric increased to 93.5% ( 20% higer than that of the untreated one). The K/S value increased by 24% but color fastness remained the same. The moisture permeability increased by 14% but air permeability decreased by 15%. The crease recovery enhanced, therein the acute crease recovery increased by 26.3% and the slow one by 14.7%. The softness declined a little. In general, the overall performance of the chitosan modified cotton fabric has been enhanced.