Wrinkle-free finishing of cotton fabrics based on click chemistry via ultraviolet radiation

Abstract

In this paper, a novel method was proposed to achieve anti-wrinkle finishing of cotton fabrics. Cotton fabrics were pre-treated to terminate –OH groups and reduce the amount of –OH groups by the reaction between the –OC2H5 groups of 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane and –OH groups of cotton fabrics. Then anti-wrinkle finishing of cotton fabric was obtained with waterborne polyurethane acrylate under ultraviolet radiation (UV) where click reaction between –SH groups and C=C bonds was taken place. The surface morphology, reaction and mechanical properties of cotton fabrics were investigated. The results show that the wrinkle recovery angle (WRA) of cotton fabrics reaches 205°, and the WRA can maintain 190° after 10 washing cycles, revealing that the anti-wrinkle finishing on cotton fabrics has durable effect. Furthermore, the anti-wrinkle finishing cotton fabrics maintain good mechanical properties like breaking strength.