EASY CARE FINISHING WITHOUT FORMALDEHYDE OF CELLULOSE-CONTAINING TEXTILE MATERIAL

PURPOSE: To easily perform a formaldehyde-free easy care finishing of cellulose- containing textile material by treating the cellulose-containing textile material with an aqueous liquor containing a polycarboxylic acid crosslinker and a crosslinking catalyst, then drying and heat-treating. CONSTITUTION: This process for a formaldehyde-free easy care finishing of cellulose-containing textile material comprises imparting an aqueous liquor to the textile by an impregnating, spraying, nip-padding or foaming method, drying the treated textile at a temperature up to 130 deg.C, preferably 100 to 130 deg.C, and then thermally treating the dried textile at a temperature of 140 to 200 deg.C, preferably 160 to 180 deg.C. The aqueous liquor has a pH value of from 2 to 5, preferably 3 to 4, and contains a polycarboxylic acid crosslinker and a crosslinking catalyst comprising boric acid or its derivative. The polycarboxylic acid crosslinker includes citric acid, butene tetracarboxylic acid and cyclopentane tetracarboxylic acid, and the crosslinking catalyst is boric acid, preferably orthoboric acid, a boric acid salt, more preferably a boric acid polyalkali metal or polyalkaline earth metal salt, or a boric acid ester of the formula: B(OR)3 (R is an alkyl or an aryl).