Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • D06M—TREATMENT, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE IN CLASS D06, OF FIBRES, THREADS, YARNS, FABRICS, FEATHERS OR FIBROUS GOODS MADE FROM SUCH MATERIALS
  • D06M13/00—Treating fibres, threads, yarns, fabrics or fibrous goods made from such materials, with non-macromolecular organic compounds; Such treatment combined with mechanical treatment
  • D06M13/52—Treating fibres, threads, yarns, fabrics or fibrous goods made from such materials, with non-macromolecular organic compounds; Such treatment combined with mechanical treatment combined with mechanical treatment
  • D06M13/53—Cooling; Steaming or heating, e.g. in fluidised beds; with molten metals

Definitions

• ABSTRACT A method of treating wool or cotton fibers to improve their resistance to, and recovery from, deformations encountered, for example, in the wrinkling of garments during wearing and in the deterioration of dimensions and shape of such articles during use or washing, which method comprises subjecting the fibers to a heat treatment while maintaining the regain within the range corresponding to the range of relative humidities encountered under normal use and for a period sufficient to allow the rearrangement of at least a proportion of the hydrogen bonds in the fibers in their minimum energy configuration.
• the method may form part of a process for rendering the articles dimensionally stable to machine washing and drying, in accordance with which the fibers treated as above are reacted with a reagent capable of forming permanent cross-links between reactive groups in the fibers.
• This invention relates to a method for treating textile fibers, in particular wool, to improve their resistance to, and recovery from, deformations encountered, for example, in the wrinkling of garments during wearing, in the deterioration of dimensions and shape of such articles during use or washing, and during processing and manufacturing operations.
• the method can also form part or all of a process for permanently setting textile fibers or articles made therefrom and for rendering them dimensionally stable to machine washing and drying.
• the present invention provides a method for increasing the resistance to, and recovery from deformation of textile fibers of the type described within a range of relative humidities which process comprises subjecting the fibers to a heat treatment while maintaining the regain at a value corresponding to a relative humidity within the rearrangement of at least a proportion of the hydrogen bonds in the fibers to theirminimum energy configuration.
• MOre specifically the method of the invention comprises heating wool fibers, while maintained at a regain within the range corresponding to the range of relative humidities encountered under conditions of normal use, to a temperature sufficient to bring about the rupture of at least a proportion of the intrafiber hydrogen bonds and cooling the wool to ambient conditions at a rate which is sufficiently low to allow the reformation of said hydrogen bonds in their minimum energy configuration.
• the wrinkling of wool is most pronounced at high regains, i.e., under conditions of high-relative humidity, such as are encountered in many parts of the world during the summer months. Accordingly, it is preferable in the practice of the invention to carry out the annealing treatment at highrelative humidities i.e., about to percent R.H. although values above or below this figure may be used. In practice, quite good results can be obtained by annealing at relative humidities as low as 60 to 70 percent R.H. but the wrinkling performance at high humidities of wool articles thus treated is then improved to a noticeably lesser degree than if annealing had been carried out at a higher relative humidity. However, since the wrinkling behavior of wool is good at low-relative humidities, there is usually little need to anneal at low-relative humidities.
• wool fibers may be annealed by holding for several weeks at 85 percent relative humidity (R.H.) and 30 C. or alternatively a similar effect may be achieved by conditioning the fibers at 85 percent RH. and then heating the conditioned fibers in a sealed container for about one-half hour less at to C. followed by cooling over a period of about 1 hour or more.
• R.H. relative humidity
• the upper limit of temperature will be set somewhat below that at which the wool becomes permanently damaged and the lower limit of temperature will be determined solely by economic considerations, i.e., by the time required for satisfactory annealing.
• the relative humidity is best chosen to correspond to the regain of the wool under conditions, of normal use, or more specifically, the conditions under which the wool is most likely to undergo wrinkling in use.
• Annealing may be carried out under any suitable atmosphere, e.g., air or other gas and it is also within the scope of the method to carry out the treatment in a liquid medium provided the necessary amount of moisture is present.
• suitable atmosphere e.g., air or other gas and it is also within the scope of the method to carry out the treatment in a liquid medium provided the necessary amount of moisture is present.
• annealing effect in the presence of hydrogen bond breaking reagents other than water.
• the most convenient ways of annealing are-(i) to heat the material '(e.g., wool) in a sealed container of limited volume such that the moisture content of the material remains sensibly unaltered during the treatment; or (ii) to heat the material under conditions where the relative humidity of the airspace is maintained at a constant value.
• the improvement obtained by annealing wool in the manner described is not permanent and may be partially or wholly reversed by washing or drying the wool or by operations such as steam pressing.
• wool can be reannealed after such treatments and the annealing-deannealing cycle can be repeated at will. It is accordingly a further object of this invention to provide a method for permanently maintaining the wool in the annealed condition, i.e., with the hydrogen bonds in their minimum energy configurations.
• Such a treatment can be combined with the annealing method of the present invention to produce a permanent setting-effect in wool which greatly improves its resistance to, and recovery from, wrinkling and other undesirable permanent deformation.
• the combined process can be utilized in conjunctionwith other known treatments to produce so called permanent press wool articleswhich may be machine laundered and dried without losing their shape.
• the present invention provides a method for increasing the resistance of wool fibers to, and their recovery from, deformation which comprises subjecting the wool to the annealing treatment described above, and thereafter subjecting the thus treated wool to a molecular stabilization treatment wherein the wool is reacted with a reagent capable of forming permanent crosslinks between reactive groups in the wool fibers and under conditions which do not substantially deanneal the wool.
• reagents including, for example, compounds containing combinations of two or more of the following functional groups: and N-methylol, O- and N-alkoxymethyl; activated C- methylol; epoxide; aziridinyl; vinyl, activated vinyl, activated 2-hydroxy ethyl and activated O-derivatives of 2-hydroxy ethyl; active halogen; isocyanate and isothiocyanate; aldehyde; and any of the above in which the functional groups are temporarily blocked or inactivated, but can be regenerated when required.
• Some of these compounds are more fully described in our copending Pat. application Ser. No. 877,427 filed Nov. 17, 1969. 1
• Suitable cross-linking agents include compounds which, although formally monofunctional, are capable of reacting with more than one reactive group in wool fibers.
• Formaldehyde is an outstanding example of a suitable compound of this type, but other monoaldehydes and reactive ketones and derivatives thereof may also be useful.
• the cross-linking agent and the conditions of its application must be selected carefully so as to at least minimize deannealing of the wool fibers.
• the cross-linking agent may be desirable to apply the cross-linking agent as a gas or vapor or from a solvent, e.g., an organic solvent.
• a multicycle annealing-cross-linking process i.e., by annealing the wool fibers, treating them with a cross-linking agent and subscquently carrying out a further similar annealing and crosslinking step.
• Treated then held 24 hr. 65% R.H. before measurement Treated, wet out, air dried, steam pressed (as No. 3), held 24 hr 65% R.H. before measurement.
• treatment Nos. 2 and 3 Deannealing by wetting and/or pressing is shown by treatment Nos. 2 and 3 and the last column, treatment Nos. 4 and 5 illustrate the reannealing effect which again was reversed by wetting and pressing.
• treatment No. 6 shows the effect of cross-linking deannealed fabric at approximately 0 percent R.H. under conditions which have been used to stabilize set wool to withstand machine washing (as described in our copending patent application). The fabric was even further deannealed and apparently stabilized in that state.
• Treatment No. 7 indicates that the dry oven treatment destroyed the annealed effect before cross-linking had occurred.
• Treatment No. 9 indicates that when an unannealed fabric was treated with formaldehyde under annealing conditions (at a regain equivalent to 85 percent R.H.) it was worse than an untreated fabric presumably because cross-linking occurred during heating and before annealing.
• Treatment No. shows that under suitable cross-linking conditions the recovery initially possessed by the fabric can be made fully permanent. An additional temporary annealing effect is superimposed on top of this permanent ef' fect during cooling after the cross-linking treatment.
• Treatments No. 8 and 10 indicate that better results may be possible by a multicycle process, i.e., by annealing the fabric, treating it with a cross-linking agent to stabilize the initial annealing effect, during which the fabric acquires an additional temporary annealing effect while cooling, and then stabilizing the latter by another cross-linking treatment. This procedure may then be further repeated.
• a method for increasing the resistance to and recovery from deformation of wool textile fibers which comprises subjecting the fibers to an annealing heat treatment at -l 20 C. and at a moisture regain for the fibers corresponding to 60-95 percent relative humidity for up to about one-half hour, and then cooling the fibers to room temperature over a period ofabout l hour.
• the creaseproofing agent is a polyfunctional compound having two or more functional groups each capable of reacting with a reactive group in the fibers.
• a method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the functional grou s are selected from: O- and N-methylol, O- and N-alkoxymet yl and activated C-methylol; epoxide; aziridinyl; vinyl, activated vinyl, activated 2-hydroxy ethyl and activated 0- derivatives of 2-hydroxy ethyl; active halogen; isocyanate and isothiocyanate; and aldehyde.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Treatments For Attaching Organic Compounds To Fibrous Goods (AREA)
• Chemical Or Physical Treatment Of Fibers (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=3734205

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Cited By (3)

Citations (2)

• 1968
  • 1968-12-05 AU AU47352/68A patent/AU427648B2/en not_active Expired
• 1969
  • 1969-12-02 GB GB58875/69A patent/GB1299377A/en not_active Expired
  • 1969-12-03 DE DE19691960642 patent/DE1960642A1/de active Pending
  • 1969-12-04 US US882276A patent/US3639098A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1969-12-05 FR FR6942196A patent/FR2025462A1/fr not_active Withdrawn

Patent Citations (2)

Non-Patent Citations (2)

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