Crease resistance improvement of hemp biofiber fabric via sol–gel and crosslinking methods

Abstract

In this study, crease resistance finish with sol–gel method, crosslinking method and commercial crease resistant finish products were applied to hemp biofiber cellulosic fabrics and the effects of these studied methods on hemp fabrics were investigated by physical performance tests and characterization analyses. In addition, chitosan biopolymer was also studied to investigate its effects on performance properties of hemp cellulosic fabrics. It was determined that sol–gel method and crosslinking method could be used to improve crease resistance property of hemp fabrics. Both sol–gel and crosslinking methods exhibited comparable close results to studied commercial crease resistant finish products, but sol–gel method was found to be better than crosslinking method especially when tensile and tear strength values were considered. The crease recovery angle values of these two methods were found to be quite close to the values of commercial products, on the other hand, chitosan biopolymer addition was not observed to be efficient in terms of crease resistance and physical performance properties.