Abstract
Near-neutral bleaching of cotton fabrics at low temperature is of great importance for saving energy and ecological friendliness in textile industry. In this work, glycerol triacetate (GT) was investigated as an activator of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for low temperature bleaching of cotton knitted fabrics, and satisfactory whiteness was obtained. The bleaching properties of H2O2/GT system for cotton was assessed by the CIE whiteness index (WI), H2O2 decomposition rate, concentration of generated peracetic acid and bursting strength. Possible factors affecting the properties of cotton bleached by H2O2/GT bleaching system were discussed in detail. At 60 °C, adding only 10 mmol/L GT to the hydrogen peroxide solution (60 mmol/L) to bleach cotton knitted fabrics for 60 min, the WI was significantly increased from 52.09 to 68.92. By using benzenepentacarboxylic acid as a fluorescent probe for hydroxyl radical (HO·) detection, it was found that GT could clearly promote HO· generation and its concentration closely related to the WI of cotton fabric. Furthermore, the bleaching mechanism of H2O2/GT system was proposed by exploring the relationship between WI and HO· concentration. GT as a bleach activator has more economical benefits and better water solubility than tetraacetylethylenediamine. The H2O2/GT system may provide a cost-effective and environmentally friendly bleaching approach of cotton as alternative to conventional alkaline high-temperature bleaching.
Highlights
Cotton fiber is one of the most popular materials used in the textile industry for its excellent properties such as high moisture absorption, comfortable wearability and easy dyeing
dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (1–5 g/L) was used to scavenge HO· during bleaching processes to clarify the effect of HO· on whiteness index (WI) in H2O2/glycerol triacetate (GT) system (Si et al 2014a), and the fabrics were treated with 25 mmol/L GT at 60°C, other reaction regents and test conditions are the same as that used in bleaching of fabric
The WI of cotton fabrics bleached by H2O2 with and without GT as the activator showed different trends
Summary
Cotton fiber is one of the most popular materials used in the textile industry for its excellent properties such as high moisture absorption, comfortable wearability and easy dyeing. The effects of various bleaching factors in the activated peroxide systems on whiteness index (WI) of bleached cotton fabrics were systematically discussed (Fei et al 2015). These bleaching activators have certain defects in different aspects, such as poor water solubility of TAED, unpleasant odor when using NOBS bleaching, etc. The bleaching mechanism of H2O2/GT system was evidencebased proposed
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