Preparation and Properties of Soybean Protein/Compound Carboxylic Acid Modified Cotton Fabric

Abstract For exploiting the ecological multifunctional cotton fabric, the citric acid, maleic acid and soybean protein were used to treat the cotton fabric so that the chemical bonding between soybean protein and cotton fabric was formed through the bridging function of multicarboxylic acids. Effects of treating conditions on the weight gain of cotton fabric were analyzed and the optimized process parameters were also obtained. The characterization of infrared spectra showed that the esterification crosslinking occurred between multicarboxylic acids and macromolecules of cotton fiber according to ring-anhydride mechanism, while the soybean protein was combined on cotton fabric with the amido bond by the bridging function of multicarboxylic acids. The breaking strength of soybean protein modified cotton fabric slightly decreased, whereas the anti-ultraviolet property of modified cotton fabric after cactus extract treatment improved remarkably.