Abstract

Kenaf has a rigid and rough touch that inhibits the use of it as a textile material; therefore, this study developed a novel textile material using kenaf. Kenaf and cotton were blended in the ratio of 3:7 and manufactured as 20` spun yarn that was compared to 20`s spun yarn made of 100% cotton. Both kenaf/cotton-blended and 100% cotton spun yarn were constructed as plain woven and knitted fabrics. Four kinds of fabrics were prepared as follows. Plain kenaf/cotton-woven fabrics, plain cotton-woven fabrics, kenaf/cotton jersey, and cotton jersey. A cellulase washing process was carried out to reduce the character of kenaf/cotton-blended fabrics, rigid, and rough touch. All fabrics were pretreated with NaOH. NaOH at the concentrations of 0, 0.25, 1.25, and 2.25mol/L, and cellulase at concentrations of 0, 1, 3 and 5g/L were used since the pretreatment of NaOH has a higher efficiency of weight loss than and Triton X-100. The ratio of weight loss, tensile strength, stiffness, drape property, and surface appearance were measured in order to evaluate the efficiency of the washing treatment on fabrics. Kenaf/cotton-blended fabrics exhibited more rigid and rough features than cotton fabrics. A cotton jersey showed significant differences in the degree of stiffness and drape properties. When all fabrics were treated with 1.25mol/L of NaOH and 3g/L of cellulase, kenaf/cotton-blended fabrics showed a higher retention ratio of tensile strength than cotton fabrics after washing despite the increased weight l08s of kenaf-blended fabrics compared to cotton fabrics. The ratio of weight loss for all fabrics was well correlated with flexibility. The washing treatment process made woven fabrics more flexible than knitted fabrics, because the stiffness of woven fabrics made the rubbing actions stronger. Kenaf/cotton-blended fabrics showed a significantly higher ratio of weight loss and more reduction in stiffness than cotton fabrics after the washing treatment. This might be due to the lack of cohesiveness and easy elimination from fabrics. The drape property of kenaf-blended fabrics was superior to cotton fabrics.

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