Effect of Mercerization Techniques on Cotton Towels Properties

摘要

In this study, mercerization processes were performed using three different techniques namely slack, constant length and under tension of two types of cotton towels. Effect of these techniques on mechanical behavior and dye-ability with reactive dye were investigated. The barium activity number was used to express the degree of mercerization of the mercerized fabrics. It was observed that mercerization treatments decrease the cellulose crystallinity index where decrement in crystallinity index was varied in different mercerization conditions. Mercerization treatments could increase dye uptake and wet-ability. Maximum dye uptake and wetability were observed for slack mercerized fabrics followed by constant length then under-tension mercerized when compared with un-mercerized fabric sample. Tensile strength of under tension mercerized fabric samples showed higher values than the slack mercerized fabric.