The appearance and handle of cotton knits can be significantly improved by treatment with celluloses. Such treatment leads to the removal of surface hairs from the fabric and improves brightness of dyed fabric. The effect of treatment is long-lasting. Handle of fabric is improved due to increased smoothness, better drapeability, reduced stiffness, and rigidity of the fabric.
Enzymes are effective under a particular pH range, time, concentration, temp, and liquor ratio. We have made an attempt to optimize these variables and obtain the best results using 3% Cellusoft-SO in an acidic pH (4-5) at 55C temperature for 50 minutes keeping a 1:10 M:L ratio.
Introduction
In the recent years, enzymes have found a variety of uses in textile applications. Popular uses are stone washing of denims and surface modification of cellulosic fabrics to improve their appearance and handle. The process of treating with cellulases is termed as Bio-polishing. In the case of denims, we can get a stone wash effect without using pumice stones by using enzymes. Another advantage of using enzymes is that these are environmentally friendly, since they are readily biodegradable. Besides, they will not leave chemical residue on the processed materials, and the color changes on the dyed goods are very less.
Knitted goods treated with enzymes are free from surface hairiness and neps with a much-improved handle and flexibility. The fabric surface becomes smoother and more lustrous. There is also a lower tendency to further pilling, possibly due to the fact that there are fewer protruding fiber ends from the yarns after the enzyme application.
The authors are associated with Textile & Engineering Institute, Ichalkaranji
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