The effect of ecological washing treatments on the comfort properties of dyed cotton fabrics

Ecological washing treatments are being widely applied for textile finishing. However, these treatments may cause changes in the mechanical and surface properties of textile materials, thus influence the tactile properties of fabrics. These sensitive low-stress mechanical properties will affect the comfort of the human body. In this work, the changes in comfort properties of dyed cotton fabrics, after ecological new bleach and enzymatic washing treatments, are systematically investigated using a tensile testing machine - the Kawabata Evaluation System for Fabrics (KES-FB) - and the air permeability tester. The results show that mechanical and fabric hand properties are differently affected by the different treatments. Finished cotton samples were found suppler and rougher than the untreated fabric due to the mechanical friction during the finishing cycle, including fabric-to-fabric and fabric-to-machine friction. As a result of our finishing treatment, tensile strength, bending properties, air permeability and thermal conductivity are decreased, however, the compressibility (EMC) tends to increase after the various finishing treatments. Moreover, the best bending properties, which reflect the flexibly of the fabric, are obtained for the new bleached sample. The possible origins for the changes mentioned above - caused by the different treatments- are evaluated and discussed.