FUNCTIONAL TREATMENTS ON WORSTED WOOL FABRIC: SELF-CLEANING AND MICROCAPSULE FIXATION

Abstract

In the current climate, more and more functional textiles have been studied in order to meet the requirements of customer tastes, preferences, and behaviors since the sharp expansion of the fashion industry, and wool is not an exception. Wool possesses various ideal properties for high-end fashion designs, however, such material also has posed significant challenges in commodity purposes, e.g. washing, odor control. Besides, wool is a bright candidate for cosmetic finishing as cosmetotextiles. This study presented two aspects of the functional finishing method (self-cleaning and microcapsule fixation) to improve the added value for worsted wool fabrics. The nano TiO2/SiO2 mixtures and microcapsules were finished on wool by the padding method. The functional effectiveness was analyzed by the reduction of the stain's color intensity of commercial wine, coffee, and tea on wool when exposing to sunlight, washing, and odor test. The sample with a microcapsule concentration of 60 g/L - 12 dipping hours had the highest effectiveness for capsule distribution, odor control and remained stable under a 5-time washing impact. Furthermore, TiO2/SiO2 molar ratio of 70/30 yielded the best self-cleaning effectiveness for coffee and tea stains. Briefly, our study created the functional add-valued properties on wool fabrics such as self-cleaning and scent creation for enormous potential in the high-end fashion of wool.