Investigating Wrinkle Resistance of Cotton and Cotton Blended Fabrics in Relation to a Non-Formaldehyde Durable Press Finish

Abstract

This study investigated cotton fabric’s wrinkle resistance with a durable press finish, compared to 100% cotton and cotton blended fabrics. Wrinkle resistance of cotton fabrics can be achieved by using chemical resin finishes or blending with polyester, nylon, or spandex. Most of wrinkle resistance finishes contain harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde. However, a durable press finish through pad, dry, and cure fabric application process is treated with crosslinking resins, and it improves wrinkle resistance and is formaldehyde-free, making it a prime alternative to the wrinkle resistance finishes with formaldehyde. Eight different cotton and cotton-blended fabric samples were tested in relation to a non-formaldehyde durable press finish. The fabric samples were tested using AATCC 128 Wrinkle Recovery of Fabrics: Appearance Method. One-way between groups ANOVAs were conducted to examine how wrinkle resistance differs among the fabric samples, depending on fiber type, wrinkle resistant finishes, and non-formaldehyde durable press finish. Post-hoc comparisons using the Bonferroni test were also conducted. Results indicate that there were significant differences on wrinkle resistance by the different fiber contents and wrinkle resistance finishes. The 100% cotton fabric with the nonformaldehyde durable press finish showed greater wrinkle resistance than the other fabrics. The non-formaldehyde durable press finish also has other properties such as abrasion resistance, shape retention, pilling resistance, etc. Further research on these properties is needed to explore characteristics of the non-formaldehyde durable press finish, compared to other wrinkle resistant fabrics.