Recent advances in application of chitosan and its derivatives in functional finishing of textiles

Chitin is the second most plentiful natural polysaccharide found in the various marine, terrestrial, and microorganism sources. Chitosan is prepared by partial deacetylation of chitin. Both of them are widely used in different industries such as pharmacy, water purification, agriculture, biomedical applications, biotechnology, and production of fibers and finishing process of textile fibers due to their interesting properties such as nontoxicity, biocompatibility, biodegradability, low allergenicity, biological activity, low cost, etc. In recent years, using chitin and chitosan as multifunctional materials for surface modification of textiles in order to enhance the properties has risen significantly. The most important applications of chitosan in textile finishing include antimicrobial, antiodor, blood coagulant, antistatic, and crease-resistant finishing which provide the potential usage in various fields. These environmentally friendly substances for treating fabrics are able to be used in medical textile such as wound dressing and sutures because of their ability to accelerate the wound healing, blood coagulation, and antibacterial effect. Also, chitosan treatment on fabrics can increase the color strength and enhance the dyeability. In addition, it can act as a good agent in printing paste for improvement of printability. This chapter gives an overview about the recent advances in application of chitin in functional finishing of textile materials.