Effect of atmospheric pressure plasma treatment on the desizing and subsequent colour fading process of cotton denim fabric

Abstract

In this article, the performance of atmospheric pressure plasma treatment in the desizing of grey cotton denim fabric followed by an enzymatic colour fading process was studied. Four atmospheric pressure plasma processing parameters, namely, treatment time, ignition power, reactive gas (oxygen) concentration and jet distance were considered for desizing. In order to investigate the optimum conditions (based on weight change) for atmospheric pressure plasma treatment, an orthogonal array testing strategy was used. The optimum conditions for atmospheric pressure plasma treatment in this study were: treatment time, 5 s/mm; ignition power, 160 W; oxygen concentration, 1%; and jet distance, 3 mm. The level of importance of atmospheric pressure plasma processing parameters based on the orthogonal array testing strategy analysis was in the order: jet distance > ignition power > oxygen concentration > treatment time, and the effect of each processing factor is also discussed. In addition, the desizing effect induced by atmospheric pressure plasma treatment was compared with conventional enzyme desizing treatment. The resultant performance properties were also compared. After conducting desizing with atmospheric pressure plasma treatment, the cotton denim fabric was subjected to an enzymatic colour fading process. The colour fading effect was found to be more significant when compared with the conventional enzymatic colour fading process.