超音波を利用した繊維集合体の高性能洗浄法の検討

摘要

In order to save resources and energy in textile washing, ultrasound was applied as a mechanical action for soil removal. Plain-woven polyester, cotton and polyester/cotton (65/35) fabrics were soiled with oleic acid, carbon black or oleic acid/carbon black mixture as a model soil. The artificially soiled fabrics were washed in an aqueous anionic surfactant solution with applying 38 kHz ultrasound. The detergency determined by the surface reflectance method rapidly increased with time and attained almost constant within a few minutes. The detergency after 1 min washing was found to increase with increasing electric power consumption of ultrasound. The washing tests were repeated ten times in the same wash bath to save water and detergent and the obtained detergency did not change significantly. The detergency of oleic acid and oleic acid/carbon black mixture after washing with 420W ultrasound for 1 min was comparable to that with Wascator, a horizontal axis drum type washer. Furthermore, the mechanical action values obtained for ultrasonic washing were much smaller than those for Wascator, indicating that the fabric damage can be prevented by applying ultrasound to textile washing.%健康で快適な衣生活を営む上で，着用した衣服の洗濯は欠かすことができない.衣服の多くは家庭用電気洗濯機を用いて洗濯するが，これまで国や地域によって異なるタイプの洗濯機が使用されてきた.日本では洗濯機槽底のパルセーターを回転して渦卷き状の水流で洗濯する縦型洗濯機が用いられてきたが，2000年以降は洗濯物の落下によるたたき洗いで汚れを除去するヨーロッパタイプのドラム型洗濯機が普及している.洗濯で留意すべきは，汚れをしっかり落とし，かつ，衣服の損傷を少なくすること，さらに洗濯に伴う環境負荷や資源·エネルギー消費を抑えることも重要である.近年，家庭洗濯の節水化が進行した結果,洗浄力の低下，洗いムラ，染料の移染，摩擦による布の損傷などが懸念されている.これらの問題は，基本的に洗濯機の機械力が，撹拌やタンブリングにより洗浴全体を動かすことにより付与されることに起因している.