GB1099799A - Improvements in the treatment of cellulosic fabric - Google Patents

Abstract

A cellulosic fabric is sensitized by impregnating it with an aqueous solution of a curable textile creaseproofing material and then drying and partially curing the impregnated fabric to remove substantially all of the water originally present in the fabric and in the aqueous solution contained by the fabric to the extent that the crease resistance of the dried, partially cured fabric is 20-72% of the total gain in crease-resistance obtained when the fabric is substantially fully cured. The total gain in crease resistance is the difference between the crease resistance of the fully cured fabric and that of the impregnated dried but uncured fabric. Drying may be effected at 70-300 DEG F and partial curing at 200 DEG - 340 DEG F for 1-5 minutes. The crease-proofing material may be a condensation product of formaldehyde with melamine, urea, thiourea, cyanamide, dicyandiamide, cyclic ethylene urea, cyclic trimethylene urea, 4,5-dihydroxy cyclic ethylene urea, formamide, methyl or ethyl carbamate, triazones, acetoguanamide or urons or their alkylated or acylated derivatives. The treating solution may also contain a catalyst, e.g. hydrochloric, sulphuric, phosphoric or maleic acid, ammonium chloride or phosphate, zinc nitrate, magnesium chloride, sodium phosphate and monoethanolamine hydrochloride, softeners, e.g. silicones and polyethylene dispersions, cationic surface active agents, stearoxymethyl triethyl ammonium chloride, polyvinyl alcohol, modified starch, polyvinyl acetate, acrylic resins, and oil and water repellents, e.g. silicones and fluorocarbon chemicals. Fabrics comprising cotton alone or in admixture with polyester, nylon or polyacrylonitrile fibres may be treated. The fabrics may be stored and subsequently made up into garments, e.g. trousers, pressed into the desired shape and the curing completed, e.g. at 250 DEG -375 DEG F for 2-20 minutes.