CROSSLINKING OF COTTON FABRIC TREATED WITH DMDHEU USING THE HIGH-TEMPERATURE STEAM PROCESS

A crosslinking treatment is reported for desized, scoured, and bleached cotton fabric with dimethyloldihydroxyethyleneurea (DMDHEU) using high temperature (HT) steam and also with DMDHEU using conventional hot air. The resin-finished fabric and a control were studied for various physiochemical properties using standard meth ods. The number of crosslinks and their lengths were calculated from formaldehyde and nitrogen contents. Both increased with increasing resin concentration. The values of the number of crosslinks in samples cured with HT steam were lower than for samples cured with conventional hot air, and the values of the crosslink lengths in samples cured with HT steam were higher than for samples cured with conventional hot air. The HT-steam samples showed similar dry crease recovery angles, higher wet crease recovery angles, and lower percent strength retained compared to conventional hot air samples. The relationships between various fabric properties are also reported. © 1990, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.