Contents
Advances in Nanotextile Finishes—An Approach Towards
Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
N. Gokarneshan, P.T. Chandrasekar and L. Suvitha
Nanochemicals and Effluent Treatment in Textile Industries. . . . . . . . . . 57
P. Senthil Kumar, Abishek S. Narayan and Abhishek Dutta
Insights into the Functional Finishing of Textile Materials
Using Nanotechnology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Shahid-ul-Islam, Mohd Shabbir and Faqeer Mohammad
Advances in Nanotextile Finishes—An Approach Towards Sustainability
N. Gokarneshan, P.T. Chandrasekar and L. Suvitha
Abstract The chapter critically surveys the recent development trends in nanotextile finishes. Garments for special needs comprising of the functional aspects such as protective, medical treatment and care, have been considered through treatment with silver nanoparticles and have been related to sustainability. The micro- and nanoencapsulation of 100 % cotton denim fabric using three herbal extracts have been studied for antimicrobial efficiency, resulting in improvement in durability and good resistance to microbes over 30 industrial washes. The synthesis, characterization, and application of nanochitosan on cotton fabric has been studied, and the treated fabrics were evaluated for appearance, tensile, absorbency, stiffness, dyeing behaviour, wrinkle recovery, and antibacterial properties. Polyester fabric has been treated with nanosized dispersed dye particles without carrier, using ultrasound. This has been used for optimizing the parameters for the preparation of the printing paste. Attempt has been made to improve the handle property of jute polyester-blended yarn to produce union fabric with cotton yarn, intended for winter garment. The findings indicate that nano–micropolysiloxane-based finishing exhibit better improvement in the surface morphology, handling, and recovery property of the fabric as compared with other finishing combinations. Viscose fabrics have been modified to improve the attraction for metal oxides such as aluminium, zinc, or titanium in order to impart antimicrobial activity against two types of microorganisms. Nanosafe textile using the extracts of yellow papaya peel has been developed by extracellular synthesis of highly stable silver nanoparticles.
Cotton fabrics with smart properties have been developed by functional finishing with stimuli-responsive nanogel using a combination of biopolymer and synthetic polymer in the synthesis of nanogel. The findings reveal that the application of nanogel as a smart finishing system affects the intrinsic cotton properties and also improves the common textile quality by providing new features of stimuli responsiveness. Above all these, the newer concepts of the nanotextile finishes discussed in the chapter promise enhancement in the existing properties of textile materials, increase durability, promote ecofriendliness and economy, and thus pave the way towards achieving better sustainability.
Keywords Chitosan _ Disperse dye _ Viscose _ Nanogel _ Silver particles _ Nanoencapsulation _ Nanopolysiloxane
1 Introduction
The new millennium has witnessed significant research works around the globe in the area of nanotextile finishing (Gokarneshan et al. 2013). A number of innovative approaches have been attempted during the recent years and tend to exploit the functional properties and tailor the fabrics to suit specific requirements. Some of the efforts have been directed towards improvement in antibacterial efficacy of the fabrics so treated (Gokarneshan et al. 2012). When considering garments for special needs, three aspects have been considered, namely, protective, treatment, and caring. Efforts have been directed to improve the comfort and functionality of these groups clothing with nanotechnology by assessing all of these concerns and comparing the benefits of nanotechnology with its disadvantages (Ebrahim and Mansour 2013). Application of antimicrobial finishes using natural materials has been the popular trend, which promotes natural and ecofriendly lifestyle. Attempt has been made through the use of plant extracts containing active substances on fabrics, so as to maker them microbial resistant (Sumithra and Vasugi Raaja 2012). The textile wet processing operations are going through a stage of green revolution, wherein many types of conventional and non-eco-friendly chemicals are being replaced by natural-based products that are safe to environment and health during manufacturing and usage. The synthesis and characterization of nanochitosan on cotton fabric has been studied. The nanochitosan-treated fabrics are then tested for appearance, tensile, absorbency, stiffness, dyeing behaviour, wrinkle recovery, and antibacterial properties (Chattopadhyay and Inamdar 2013). In an interesting study, a nanoparticle-sized disperse dye treated with ultrasound has been applied on polyester fabric without using a carrier. The dyeing and process parameters considered include K/S values, dye particle size, dye exposure to ultrasound waves, printing paste pH, steaming conditions of prints, morphological study using SEM and TEM of dye particles, and fastness properties of the prints (Osman and Khairy 2013). Even though jute fibre has unique properties such as roughness, coarseness, and stiffness, it can cause problems during fabric formation and performance of final product as well, rendering it unsuitable for apparel. Hence efforts have been taken to improve the handle property of jute fabric through application of nanopolysiloxane-based finishing both in individual as well as in combination with other finishing chemicals by conventional pad-dry-cure method (Lakshmanan et al. 2014). Textile fabrics are generally subjected to repeated laundering during their lifetime, and hence the washing durability of nanometal-treated fabric is of significant importance. In this context, attempt has been made to prepare permanent antimicrobial viscose fabrics by fixation of propionic acid groups at lower temperature (below 100 °C), as active centres, onto the cellulosic polymeric chain. The added carboxylic groups are believed to act as favourable centres for some oxides such as titanium oxide, zinc oxide, or aluminium oxide nanoparticles. The efficiency of the antimicrobial activity, considering the permanent performance against selected microorganisms onto modified textile, has also been evaluated (El-Sayeed et al. 2015). Cotton fabrics have been functionally finished with stimuli-responsive nanogel comprising of biopolymer chitosan and a synthetic polymer so as to obtain smart properties (Bashari et al. 2015). The above approaches enable a more effective way of nanofinishing of textile materials and hold the prospects of greater viability coupled with sustainability, since they address the concerns related to the field of application of nanotechnology in textiles. The chapter focuses on the advantages of the newer methods of nanotextile finishing which hold the prospects of wider areas of applications.
2 Treatment of Nanomaterials on Garments for Special Needs
2.1 Overview
The mechanical and physical properties of cotton fabrics can be modified to meet special needs garments, by application of nanosilver finishes. Accordingly fabrics have been subjected to the nanosilver finishing process with 5 different solution concentrations of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 ppm. It has been found that nanosilver finishing minimized the air and water vapour permeability of the fabric, which could be due to the nanosilver particles that fill the fabric pores. The wrinkle recovery angle of the nanofinished fabrics has decreased in both directions due to the generation of links on the fabric by nanosilver particles (Ebrahim and Mansour 2013). Yarn swelling phenomena happens during the finishing process in cotton fabrics which means increment of occupied space by fibres and yarns and thus rise in the fabric thickness; owing to integration of fibres and yarns by the nanosilver particles, the breaking elongations of fabrics in both warp and weft directions were inclined to applying the nanosilver finishing process, and applying the nanosilver finishing process led to formation of links on the fabric, and consequently bending rigidity of the fabrics was increased in both warp and weft directions. Finally, it has been observed that there has been a decrease in most of the physical and chemical properties of cotton fabrics by increasing the concentration of the solution to 500 ppm.