Modification of Tencel with Treatment of Ferric Sodium Tartrate Complex Solution I. Effect of Treatment Condition

Partial dissolution of cellulose by ferric sodium tartrate complex (FeTNa) solution was examined as refining treatment of the organic-solvent spun cellulose fiber (Tencel). The treatment conditions were discussed in terms of solvent strength, temperature, duration of the treatment, and free NaOH concentration by measuring the weight loss, crystallinity, and tenacity of the resultant yarns. For improving fibrillation resistance, the optimized solution of the FeTNa complex was composed of 1–1.5M FeCl3 with 20% excess sodium tartrate and 1 N free NaOH, and the duration of the treatment was 60 min at 20°C. The loss in weight and tenacity could be maintained as low as 5% and 30–40%, respectively, by the optimized conditions. The resulting yarn showed significantly improved fibrillation resistance.