Durable Machine-Washable Wool via AOX-Free Plasma-Mediated Coating with Keratin

Autor: Marwa Abou-Taleb, Hosam El-Sayed
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Natural Fibers, Vol 21, Iss 1 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 15440478
1544-046X
1544-0478
DOI: 10.1080/15440478.2024.2408626
Popis: Although their favorable performance, appearance, and comfort attributes, woolen garments have the tendency to felt unenviably during washing. In this work, an eco-friendly, energy-saving, non-deteriorative process for the fabrication of machine-washable wool tops (WTs) was proposed. WTs were exposed to atmospheric air or an argon plasma treatment at different powers for various durations, followed by coating with a protein biopolymer, namely keratin, using the pad-dry-cure technique. The felting resistance of the finished WTs was evaluated, and the results revealed that the finished sample has an enhanced felting resistance to the extent of machine-washable wool (no felt ball is formed), whereas the untreated sample forms a felt ball with a diameter of 2.166 cm after undergoing the felting test. The treated WTs maintained their felting resistance after 20 wash cycles. The surface composition of the plasma-treated WTs was examined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The change in the chemical structure of the treated WTs was monitored by determining the cystine content, alkali solubility, base-combining capacity, and affinity to anionic dye. The dye exhaustion of the untreated and finished samples after 60 min was 66% and 98.8%, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the wool fibers’ topography.
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