Plasma Aided Finishing of Textile Materials

Abstract

Surface modification of textile materials extends over a wide range of alterations to provide desired single or multi-features for various applications. It is a highly focused area of research in which alterations to physical and/or chemical properties lead to new textile products that provide new applications or satisfy specific needs. These processes, however, can involve numerous chemicals, some of which are toxic to humans and hazardous to the environment. In an effort to eliminate these harmful chemicals and waste products, surface modification and finishing via plasma treatment has become an attractive alternative, and is the focus of this work. Through analyzing and understanding plasma-substrate interactions, new and novel finishing applications have been developed. These processes include plasma-aided desizing of polyvinyl alcohol, and plasma-aided grafting of antimicrobial agents onto polypropylene nonwoven fabrics. Plasma treatment of PVA films has shown a significant amount of size removal through sputtering mechanisms, as well as increased solubility via chain scission, which further aids in ease of removal. Plasma treatment of PP fabrics has shown a viable pretreatment for free radical grafting of antimicrobial agents without the use of chemical etchants. In addition to new processing methods, this work has also provided an investigation into the development of a generalized solubility model for plasma exposed materials.