Comfort characteristics of cotton fabrics finished with fluoro-alkyl nano lotus finish

摘要

The influence of fluoro-alkyl nano lotus finish in conjunction with a silicone softener on the comfort characteristics of finished cotton apparel fabrics has been studied to impart repellency for oil and water with soil release characteristics. Fabric handle, thermal and hygral comfort in terms of total hand value, thermal insulation value and moisture transport characteristics have been analyzed through a new expression (3T values). Fluoro-alkyl, non-ionic nano emulsion is applied on the cotton woven fabric by pad-dry-cure technique at three different finish concentrations (15, 25 and 35 gpl) with 65 - 70% expression at padding. The self-cleaning and soil - release characteristics are found to be efficient at 15 gpl finish concentration, as observed from still photographs of fabric samples after washing. The fabric treated with 25 gpl finish scores the best ranking as per 3TV, the newly derived expression for comprehensive evaluation of handle and comfort characteristics.