Wool fabrics coated with an anionic Bunte salt-terminated polyether: physicomechanical properties, stain resistance, and dyeability

The Bunte salt-terminated polyether (BSTP)-based treatment has been developed for the chlorine-free shrink-resist treatment of wool fibers and fabrics. However, the effect of BSTP treatment on the physicomechanical and chemical properties of wool fabrics has not been thoroughly investigated. In this work, wool fabrics were treated with a commercially available BSTP at various concentrations by the pad-dry-cure process. The effect of BSTP coatings on the dyeability, shrink resistance, mechanical properties, wettability, hydrophilicity, and yellowness of the treated wool fabrics was systematically evaluated. It was found that the shrinkage of the treated wool fabrics considerably decreased with an increase in the BSTP concentration. On the other hand, the tensile strength, elongation at break, and surface hydrophilicity highly increased with an increase in the BSTP concentration. The tensile strength of the treated fabric was better than the tensile strength shown by the blank-treated fabric even at the lowest investigated concentration of BSTP (60 g/L). The bending rigidity as well as the bending modulus of wool fabric also decreased with an increase in the applied concentration of BSTP. The treatment showed very little effect on the yellowness and whiteness indices of wool fabric. The stain resistance against C.I. Acid Red 40 of the treated wool fabrics increased with an increase in the applied concentrations of BSTP. However, against red wine, the stain resistance decreased at lower concentrations of BSTP but showed a little effect for the higher concentrations. The coating of wool fabrics with the BSTP not only reduced the shrinkage of the fabrics but also increased their hydrophilicity and also the stain resistance against acid dye-based stain but also negatively affected their dyeability and stain resistance against red wine, especially at lower BSTP concentrations.