Effect of Silane Coupling Agents on Cotton Fibre Finishing

Five different silane coupling agents such as vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS), vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES), trimethoxysilylpropylmethacrylate (TSPM), glycidoxypropyltriethoxysilane (GPTES) and aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) were used for the surface finishing of cotton fiber by condensation polymerization in ethanol/water medium. The finished cotton fiber showed improved textile properties like tensile strength, wear comfortness, moisture absorption and wrinkle recovery, but decreased swelling in aqueous solution. The finished cotton fibers were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG). Attachment of silane coupling agents was confirmed and the finished cotton fiber showed increased thermal stability than the unfinished cotton. The finished cotton fiber showed higher reactive dye exhaustion due to silane coupling agent imparts new reactive sites for dye molecule on cotton fiber. The finished cotton fiber showed excellent fastness properties like washing, sunlight and chemical fastness properties. Improved textile properties of the silane finished cotton fiber with higher flexibility due to the presence of Si-O bond between the silane coupling agents and the cotton fiber, causes increased wear comfortness. Possible applications include use of the finished fibers as textile materials and garments.