Ester crosslinking of cotton fabric by polymeric carboxylic acids and citric acid

Polycarboxylic acids appear to be the most promising nonformaldehyde durable press finishing agents to replace the traditional N-methylol reagents, 1,2,3,4-Butane-tetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) is the most effective crosslinking agent among the acids investigated, but its exceedingly high cost has prevented its use in the textile industry on a commercial scale. In this research, we evaluate the effectiveness of two polymers of maleic acid, i.e., the homopolymer (PMA) and the terpolymer (TPMA), along with citric acid (CA) for crosslinking cotton cellulose. PMA, TPMA, and Ca have molecular structures similar to BTCA, but are more cost effective. We have found that PMA and TPMA are less effective crosslinking agents for cotton than BTCA, probably due to the low mobility of the anhydride intermediate formed by PMA or TPMA to access the cellulosic hydroxyl during the curing process. We have found that the hydroxyl of Ca and other alpha-hydroxylpolycarboxylic acids hinder the esterification of those acids with cellulose. The infrared spectroscopy data indicate that Ca esterifies the anhydride intermediates of PMA and TPMA On cotton fabric under curing conditions. Consequently, CA is transformed from a trifunctional acid to a tetrafunctional one with the formation of an ester linkage with PMA or TPMA.