Effects of liquid ammonia treatment on the physical properties of knit fabric

Abstract

The cellulosic knit fabric must be treated by NaOH solution in silket process to modify dyeability, luster, physical property, etc. But the silket treated knit fabric has a stiff touch, and must be treated with much of silicone softener. But it has bad durability of laundry. And the silket process has a problem that must discharge a lot of alkaline wastewater. In case of woven fabrics, as an alternative to silket process, liquid ammonia process was developed and this process is eco-friendly because the used ammonia is recovered by 98%. But the knit fabrics are not applicable to the conventional liquid ammonia process because they have selvedge curling problem and are very sensitive to tension. Recently, Korea High Tech Textile Research Institute(Korea) and Lafer SPA(Italy) worked together to develop the new liquid ammonia process for knit fabrics. In the present study, the physical properties of knit fabric after the newly-developed liquid ammonia treatment were investigated. The basic physical properties of knit fabric were measured using the Kawabata evaluation system. In addition, the dyeability, dimensional stability, eco-friendliness were investigated. The results showed that liquid ammonia treatment gave improved physical properties, which can be attributed to fast and uniform swelling, to knit fabric and resulted in a dimensional stability. The knit fabric treated in liquid ammonia showed a darker colour and unique appearance. Above all, the knit fabric treated in liquid ammonia had softer touch and superior gloss than the knit fabric of silket process. The new liquid ammonia process for knit fabrics will become the highest quality standard for knits and will be considered the preferred finish also thanks to eco-friendliness.