Influence of Laser Treatment and Chemical Washing on the Performance Attributes of Cotton Woven Denim Fabrics

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this research, an attempt has been taken to investigate and compare the attributes of chemically washed and laser-treated denim fabrics. With this in mind, a 3/1 left-handed twill (LHT) cotton woven denim fabric was chosen and popular types of washing effects such as whiskered, potassium permanganate (PP) spray, and acid washed effects were applied on the fabric’s surface using a commercially available industrial procedure. Furthermore, identical washing effects were carried out on fabric surface by laser treatment. The performance was investigated in terms of tensile and tearing strength, color fastness to washing and rubbing, shrinkage, fabric weight, seam slippage, and abrasion resistance with statistical evaluation through one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). According to the findings, the laser-treated samples showed a significantly greater tensile properties than the chemically washed specimens, especially for acid washed effects. No substantial variation was perceived during testing of tear strength, seam slippage resistance, color fastness to washing, and color fastness to rubbing for both chemically and laser treated samples of similar appearance. Because of the involvement of additional washing processes, chemically washed fabrics exhibited a conspicuous change in shrinkage, weight, and abrasion resistance than laser treated ones which was confirmed by ANOVA.