Formaldehyde-free crease resistance finishing for cotton fabric

摘要

Formaldehyde-free crease resistant and Durable Press (DP) finish has been the need of the hour as there is a ban for formaldehyde based finishes in many countries, and for domestic purpose too. Polycarboxylic acids (PCAs) are getting fame as a new class of formaldehyde-free eco-friendly cross linking agents. They form ester cross links with adjacent cellulose chains acids having more number of carboxylic acid groups are capable of easily entering into esterifi-cation reaction. Therefore PCAs are considered to be the safe alternatives to the formaldehyde based cross linking resins. Mechanism of PCA: Polycarboxylic acids react with hy-droxyl groups of cellulose to form ester cross-links connecting adjacent cellulose chains in a three dimensional network inside the cellulosic fibers.