Fabric and Garment Finishing

Resin Finishing: Advantages, Disadvantages And Parameters.

Submitted by: Vipul Bhatia M/BFT/11/31 Srishti garbyal M/BFT/11/26 Samapriya Banerjee M/BFT/11/20

Introduction
Cotton is mainly selected for apparel purpose because of its durability, ability to withstand the rough laundering treatments especially under alkaline conditions, good perspiration absorption characteristics, and comfort during wear and ability to take up a wide range of dyestuffs. However, proneness to creasing under slight crushing and retention of the crease for along time give cotton garments a poor rating during actual wear. There are two properties of a fabric that help it against crease, them being: The ability of a fabric to resist the formation of crease or wrinkle when slightly squeezed is termed as crease resistance. The ability of a fabric to recover to a definite degree is called crease recovery of the fabric. Resins are cross linking agents, which form covalent bond on reaction with OH groups of cellulosic materials in acidic medium at a pH of 3-4.

What are Resins?

Resins are the chemical group used in many of the finishes. Resins are the most widely used chemicals in the textile industry. They are used for many purposes, primarily on cellulosic and cellulosic blend fabrics.

Resins have a profound effect on and cause changes in the hand (feel), drapability and physical characteristics of textiles. While many benefits are achieved through these changes, there are also some shortcomings. Resins modify fabrics in the following ways:

1. They add stiffness to fabrics and are thus used as stiffening agents or to create a firm hand.

2. Resins stabilize fabrics in the same shape or configuration as when the resin was

cured. Fabrics cured m a smooth, nonwrinkled condition will return to that shape after being wrinkled in wear, while fabrics cured with creases in garments will retain these creases.

3. Yarns in fabric will be stabilized and will resist shrinkage in laundering.

4. Fabrics will become less moisture absorbent, thus drying more rapidly. They will also be less comfortable in warm, humid weather.

5. Resins combine chemically with cellulosic fibres (cotton, rayon,ete.) to cause significant reductions in abrasion resistance, breaking strength and tear strength. This reduction can be as high as 50%.

6. Most resins produce an offensive "fish-like" or formaldehyde odour in fabric. This odour eventually disappears on exposure to air and/or laundering.

7. Resins have an affinity for oily soils, creating a soiling problem. Soil release finishes help alleviate this objection.

Types of Resins: Deposition type of resins

This type of resins is deposited on the fabric as surface coating. No reaction will take place between the fiber and resin. They include: Phenol-Formaldehyde resins, Urea formaldehyde resin, Alkyd resins, Ketone resins, Vinyl resins.

Cross Linking type Resins

These types of resins chemically react with the fiber and crosslink the fiber molecules. The type of finish obtained is durable and much better than deposition type.

They are also known as NMethylol compounds as the Methylol groups (-CH2OH) are attached to the nitrogen. The cross linking compounds are commonly called resins, but the term pre condensate is correct. The pre condensates further polymerize to form resins. The following are some of the cross linking agents mostly used for crease resistant finishing: DMU (Di methylol Urea), DMEU(Di methylol Ethylene Urea) DMDHEU(Di methylol Di hydroxy Ethylene Urea), DMPU(Di methylol Propylene Urea), TMM(Tri methylol melamine/Melamine formaldehyde .

What is resin finishing?

Cellulosic fibres or fabrics characteristically do not recover well from bending deformation, particularly in the presence of moisture, and crease resistant finishes have been developed for cellulosics to improve the wrinkle recovery of the cellulosic fabrics in the wet and/or dry states. Such finishes also stabilize cellulosics against relaxation shrinkage induced by mechanical forces during fabric formation. The crease resistant finishes used for cellulosics are for the most part derivatives of urea arid various aldehydes. These resins chemically crosslink adjacent cellulose chains and provide a chemical memory within the cellulose which aids in recovery from bending deformation or wrinkling. The degree of dry and wet wrinkle recovery of the resin-treated cellulosics will differ depending on whether curing to achieve crosslinking was conducted in the dry state or in the swollen wet state. Although crease resistant finishes for cellulosics were developed shortly after World War I, it was not until after World War II that they appeared exten-sively on consumer goods. The finishes introduced in the late 1940s were generally referred to as drip dry or was hand-wear finishes. The resin-treated cellulosics were cured flat while they were still moist at the mill. This required that the treated fabric be permitted to drip dry to achieve the maximum desired recovery effect. Since the fabric was cured in the flat state before being made into a finished textile, the garment did not retain creases placed in the finished

garment. Flat set items such as sheets and table cloths can be effectively made crease resistant by this process, however. In the early 1960s durable press finishes were introduced. After resin application and partial curing at the textile mill, the treated fabrics were sent to the apparel manufacturer. The apparel manufacturer fabricated the treated fabric into garments which were then fully cured in their finished state to give a textile product that retained its creases and recovered to its finished form after washing and tumble drying. Although it is difficult to make a clear distinction between the resins used for the wash-and-wear and for durable press, certain generalizations can be made. Both types of resins are ureaaldehyde derivatives used in conjunction with possible other coreactants. The reactive functional groups in the resins are multiple N-methylol groups which undergo acid catalyzed reaction with hydroxyl groups in adjacent cellulose molecular chains to form bridging crossl inks to its unwrinkled state. Representatives of the major types of crease resistant resins for cellulosics are shown in the adjoining box. In general, urea-formaldehyde condensates, N-methylolmelamines, and triazone-formaldehyde resins are used in wash-and-wear finishing. All suffer to varying degrees from chlorine retention and yellowing when in contact with sodium hypochlorite bleaches, which can cause damage to the cellulosic, In addition, the triazone resins give off a fishy odor under moist conditions. The ethyleneurea resins and the carbamates are used extensively in durable press treatments.

In general, these resins are less susceptible to chlorine retention and undergo partial cure readily followed by a final cure. Latent or mild acid catalysts including inorganic and Lewis acid metal salts are added to the resin solution to achieve curing of all of these resins applied to cellulosics. A gaseous formaldehyde-sulfur dioxide vapor treatment for 100% cellulosics has been developed as well as a radiation curing treatment using Nmethylolacrylamide. These resin treatments tend to lower the strength and overall abrasion resistance of the cellulosic fibers. Careful control of curing conditions and selection of catalysts as well as addition of softeners to the finishing solution can reduce this effect to some degree. Nevertheless, it has been necessary to blend thermoplastic heat settable fibers such as polyester with the treated cellulose to achieve acceptable wear characteristics. As a result polyester/ cellulosic blends have made large inroads into markets where 100% cellulosic constructions were. found previously. Soil retention on polyester cellulosic blends treated with crease resistant resins has been a problem, and a series of polar hydrophilic soil release finishes have been developed to meet this need. In recent years, low free formaldehyde durable press finishes have become important to protect workers from exposure to unreacted formaldehyde. In these formulations the methylol groups are capped with methyl groups, or a formaldehyde scavenger is added to the finishing solution.

Types of Resin Finishes:

Wash & wear finish

A crease-resistant finish, which reduces the tendency of clothing to crease when wet, and gives it the capacity to lose its creases when hung wet. Cotton fabrics and cotton fabrics mixed with synthetic fibres are often given a non-iron finish. The finish is typically achieved by screening when dry; screening when damp or wet are used

less frequently. The main indicator of the quality of a fabric with a non-iron finish is the angle of recovery when wet.

Anti crease finish

For getting anti crease effect usually melamine formaldehyde, urea formaldehyde and dimethylol dihydroxy ethylene urea (DMDHEU), butane tetra carboxylic acid (BTCA) etc. can be used. At very high temperature, they react with cellulose and give permanent anti crease effect. The following reactions take place between the cellulose macromolecule and DMDHEU.

Durable press finish

The most technically correct description would be "Cellulosic anti-swelling" or "Cellulosic cross linking" finishes. In addition to the dimensional stability properties, the sheen of calendered fabrics (permanent chintz) and the stand and hand of pile fabrics are generally improved by resin finishes. The primary effects of easy-care finishes on cellulose are: o Reduction in swelling and shrinkage o Improved wet and dry wrinkle recovery (*CRA) o Smoothness of appearance after drying. o Retention of intentional creases and pleats. W rinkle free finish

The wrinkle free is obtained by cross-linking cotton. Permanent press finishes function by forming cross-links between adjacent cellulose polymer chains, these give cotton some elastic and resiliency properties. Such cross-linked cotton can recover from deformation stresses and thus wrinkles will not form. Even today, DMDHEU is the main cross-linking agent.

Advantages of Resin Finishing:

The main advantages of resin finishes are: It improves the Crease Resistance and Crease Recovery property of the fabrics, that is the main aim. It reduces the shrinkage of the fabric during laundering, which acts as a secondary finish itself. It imparts a smooth and quick drying property on the fabric. It improves Resilience, Handle and Draping quality of the garment made of the fabric. It improves the weight and Dimensional stability. It increases the strength of RAYON fabrics. It does so in both wet and dry state. It gives resistance to degradation by light and laundering. It improves the fastness to Light and Washing of many dyestuffs. It prevents the Inter molecular slippage in the fiber core. It becomes partially water proof and Rot proof.

Disadvantages of Resin Finishing:

The few disadvantages of Resin finishes are: It decreases the Tensile strength and Tear strength of fibre, making the fabric weaker. This makes it prone to tear and bursts. It decreases the Abrasion resistance of the fabric/ It gives an unpleasant odor. It may also give an erstwhile unwanted Harsh and Stiff feel It turns the fabric yellow after chlorine bleaching. Hence, imparting unwanted coloration of the fabric.

Parameters of control for Resin finishing: Fabric parameters:

The base fabric must have sufficient strength to withstand 40-60 per cent loss in tensile and tear strength and still maintain sufficient strength to provide a garment of acceptable wear life and durability.

It must also have excellent absorbency to allow resin to penetrate into the very interior of the fibres and form crosslinks. Surface adhering resins do not serve any useful purpose and are inefficient and wasteful.

If the fabric is dyed the dye must be fast to acid catalysis and high temperatures. Sulphur dyes, which are known to generate acid upon storage, are to be strictly avoided & Lycra/Spandex based fabric also should be tested on elongation before mass production.

Residual extractable on the fabric (like starch from size) can react with resin and lower its effectiveness, a high degree of size removal is thus essential

Fabric pH should be between 6.5 to 7.0.

Curing parameters:
Curing is a process by which the effect of resin finishes are made permanent. The various parameters required to make sure curing is proper for resin finishes are: The temperature must be kept constant according to the type of fabric and resin being used.

The pressure must also be kept steady according to the type of resin formulae and fabric type.

References:
http://www.astm.org

Basics of Dyeing and Finishing, AATCC.

Fabric Science JJ Pizutos.

http://web.utk.edu

Introduction to Textile Finishing, Marks J.T.

www.slideshare.net

Boyle, Michael, Textile dyes, Finishes and Auxiliaries.