Study of some properties of greige cotton fabrics after hot mercerizing

Abstract

Mercerizing leads to an improvement in luster, tensile strength, day absorption, chemical reactivity and dimensional stability of the cotton fabrics. The mercerizing process is treating yarn or fabric with soda solution which can be divided into two types: normal mercerizing and hot mercerizing. In this study the effect of hot mercerizing of hot mercerizing on some properties of greige cotton fabric has been investigated. Mercerizing was performed within temperature range of 15-90 C during 5 minutes in a constant concentration of caustic in slack state and under tension. After mercerizing the material was bleached with hydrogen peroxide and caustic soda and then dyed with reactive dyes. Some properties of cotton fabrics such as tensile strength, shrinkage and dye uptake were measured. The obtained results showed an increase in fabrics strength after mercerizing specially in the slack state and in weft direction. Increasing mercerizing temperature increase fabric strength, dye uptake and shrinkage to a maximum and then decrease to some extent.