Study on wettability improvement of raw cotton yarns pretreated with snailase

Abstract

Raw cotton fibers were water repellent due to the existence of the cuticle layer. This study was designed to systematically investigate how snailase pretreatments influenced the wettability of cotton yarns. For comparison, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution which was commonly used to pretreat raw cotton yarns was also conducted to obtain control sample. Raw cotton and pretreated yarns were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Then, effects of snailase pretreatment on pectin removal percentage, wettability and breaking strength loss of cotton yarns were studied respectively and wicking height was used to evaluate the improvement of wettability. Observation of the surface morphology revealed that the snailase-pretreated fibers presented a smooth surface. By FTIR, it was found that the pectin in the raw cotton yarns was completely removed. XRD results suggested that snailase pretreatment was prone to remove pectin without damaging crystalline region. The snailase pretreatment had positive effects on enhancing the wettability of cotton yarns with barely affecting breaking strength.