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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #149164
Title: EXPLORING METHODS TO RAISE THE TENSILE AND TEAR STRENGTHS OF 100% COTTON FABRICS

Author
item Prevost, Nicolette
item Sachinvala, Navzer
item Lambert, Alexander
item Campbell, Jacqueline
item Gallagher, Skip
item Bland, John
item Dailey Jr, Oliver
item MASKOS, KAROL - TULANE UNIVERSITY
item NIEMCZURA, WALTER - UNIV OF HAWAII AT MANOA

Submitted to: American Chemical Society National Meeting
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2003
Publication Date: 9/1/2003
Citation: Prevost, N.T., Sachinvala, N.D., Lambert, A.A., Campbell, J.H., Gallagher, S., Bland, J.M., Dailey Jr, O.D., Maskos, K., Niemczura, W.P. 2003. Exploring methods to raise the tensile and tear strengths of 100% cotton fabrics. American Chemical Society National Meeting. 44(2):888.

Interpretive Summary: Despite decades of work with woven cotton textiles, improving their tensile and tear performance properties remains conceptually and practically enigmatic. Two types of polymers were prepared in order to understand how to enhance tensile and tear properties of fabrics by different mechanisms. The first method involved grafting (chemically attaching) the polymer on the fabric, and the second method involved loosely entangling the fabric with polymers. Despite low add-on (1 to 3%) all grafted polymers raised the tensile and tear strengths of 100% cotton print cloth by 11 and 35% respectively, whereas all entangled polymers performed poorly in comparison. Futhermore, when small crosslinkers are used on cotton fabrics, tensile and tear properties are uniformly lowered. This suggested that polymer grafting should be further investigated as a means to increase tensile and tear properties of cotton fabrics. These results will help polymer scientists and textile workers understand the methods that may be exploited to enhance fabric properties.

Technical Abstract: Poly (ethylene glycols) and poly (propylene glycols) of different molecular weights were converted to their corresponding dibromides and further transformed to the bistriallylammonium bromides. The new polymers afforded two different methods for attachment to cotton fabric. While the polymeric dibronides were grafted on to fabrics by Williamson etherification, the bis-triallylammonium salts were entangled within the substrates via the Butler reaction with or without maleic anhydride. The effects of polymer attachment were then determined by tensile and tear tests on present treated and control (untreated) fabrics using ASTM methods, D-5035 and D-1424 for tensile and tear tests respectively. On average all grafted polymers raised increased tensile and tear strengths of 100% cotton print cloth by 11 and 35% respectively, despite low add-on values of only 1% to 3%. However, all entangled PEO and PPO performed poorly by comparision. PEO-polymers lowered tear strength by 30% and insignificantly affected tensile properties, whereas, PPO entangled polymers on average lowered tensile properties by 8% and kept tear properties somewhat unchanged. Furthermore, in all cases copolymerization with maleic anhydride lowered performance properties. This suggested that polymer-grafting needs to be further investigated as a means for increasing tensile and tear properties of cotton fabrics.