Ultrasonic Assisted Alkali-Oxidation Process for the Degumming of Kudzu Fiber

摘要

Fibers extracted from Kudzu have unique anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory functions, and are promising to be fabricated into skin-care textiles. The effective way in de-gumming of the kudzu is the alkali-oxidation process. Firstly, an optimized alkali-oxidation process was proposed in consideration of three parameters including the concentration of NaOH and H_2O_2 and the immersing time. The residual pectin content and the tensile properties of the fiber were tested to characterize the retting degree. The best routine is: 5% NaOH, 4% hydrogen peroxide, treating for 3 hours. In addition, a 30min ultrasonic treatment was added after the initial 30min of alkali-oxidation scouring. The result showed that the introduction of ultrasound can significantly reduce the prop rate amounts of NaOH and H_2O_2 to 3% and 2% respectively to reach the same optimized fiber retting degree.