Surface modification of cotton fabrics treated with organic-inorganic nanocomposites

Abstract

Cotton fabrics have been treated with mixtures of hydrolysed organoalkoxysilanes and hydrolysed metal alkoxides to impart novel properties to the cellulosic material. For this purpose, the cotton samples are impregnated with aqueous solutions comprising various compositions of (3-glycidyloxy)propyltrimethoxysilane, tetraethoxysilane, (3-amino)propyl-triethoxysilane, aluminium isopropoxide, titanium tetraisopropoxide, and zircon tetrabutoxide, and then dyed with the natural dyestuff alizarin, as the hydrolysed metal alkoxide acts as mordant. The physico-mechanical properties, such as crease recovery angle, tensile strength, stiffness, contact angle, and whiteness index (undyed fabric), are evaluated. The results show that the incorporation of tetraethoxysilane or (3-amino) propyltriethoxysilane causes an alteration in physico-mechanical properties. The treatment with metal alkoxides increases the contact angle. Dyeing with alizarin causes different color shades which are evaluated in terms of the colorimetric data, such as <img src='http://www.niscair.res.in/jinfo/delta.gif' border=0>L*, <img src='http://www.niscair.res.in/jinfo/delta.gif' border=0>a*, <img src='http://www.niscair.res.in/jinfo/delta.gif' border=0>b* and <em>K/S</em> values.