Proper finishing treatments for sun-protective cotton-containing fabrics

To enhance both the performance and ultraviolet‐protection properties of cotton‐containing fabrics, attempts have been made to use poly(carboxylic acid)s as non‐formaldehyde durable‐press finishing agents alone or in combination with certain additives followed by posttreatment with metal salt solutions. Furthermore, simultaneous dyeing and resin finishing in the presence of triethanolamine hydrochloride (TEA · HCl) or citric acid (CA) as a reactive additive along with different anionic or cationic dyestuffs have been examined. The results reveal that the ester crosslinking of cotton‐containing fabrics in the absence or presence of chitosan (5 g/L), β‐cyclodextrin (20 g/L), or choline chloride (20 g/L) as an additive results in an improvement in the fabric resiliency as well as the ultraviolet‐protection properties. The extent of the improvement is determined by the type of poly(carboxylic acid), type of additive, type of substrate (i.e., cotton or cotton/polyester blend), and pretreatment history (i.e., grey, bleached, or bleached and mercerized). The posttreatment of easy‐care finished fabric samples with a copper acetate solution (5 g/L) results in a dramatic improvement in the ultraviolet‐protection factor, especially with bleached cotton, grey cotton/polyester blend, and bleached cotton/polyester fabric samples, regardless of the additive. Simultaneous dyeing and resin finishing with Reactive Black 5 and Direct Violet 31, in the presence of TEA · HCL as a reactive additive, or with Basilene Red PB, in the presence of CA as a reactive additive, result in a sharp increase in both the depth of shade and the ultraviolet‐protection values, regardless of the substrate. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 97: 1024–1032, 2005