A Study on Process Parameters for Plasma Pre-Treatment of Cotton Fiber Prior to Titanium Dioxide Wrinkle-Resistant Treatment

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been found feasible to improve wrinkle resistant property of cotton fiber. In this study, the performance of TiO2 wrinkle resistant treatment was further enhanced by plasma pre-treatment compared with the conventional wet treatment. Different plasma pre-treatment process parameters (treatment speed, i.e. treatment time; oxygen flow rate; and jet-to-substrate distance) were used for determining the optimum conditions (of plasma pre-treatment) for the subsequent wrinkle resistant treatment with TiO2. The optimum conditions for plasma pre-treatment of cotton fabrics before TiO2 treatment were obtained through the orthogonal array testing strategy (OATS): 10mm/s treatment speed, 0.3L/min oxygen flow rate and 6mm jet-to-substrate distance. This was found to be the most effective combination of plasma pre-treatment conditions for improving wrinkle resistant property of cotton fiber. After plasma, if the cotton fiber was treated with 0.1% TiO2, the wrinkle resistant property was further enhanced. Based on the OATS analysis, not only the optimum conditions for plasma pre-treatment could be obtained, but the level of relative importance of the three process parameters could also be obtained.