Highlights

Abstract

Keywords

۱٫ Introduction

۲٫ Experimental details

۳٫ Results and discussion

۴٫ Health hazards of ethylene acrylic acid co-polymer

۵٫ Conclusion

Declaration of Competing Interest

Acknowledgements

References

Abstract

Bleached cotton fabric and a water-based polymer coating solution made from ethylene acrylic acid co-polymer which is multifunctional polymer material is used in this experimental study to increase the bending and thermal properties of cotton fabrics. Roller coating and Exhaust methods is used to apply ethylene acrylic acid co-polymer solution on the cotton fabric surface. The coated fabric surface is then cured and dried at a temperature of 60–۹۰ °C using a laboratory oven. The developed fabric samples are then taken for testing for its bending and thermal properties using a fabric stiffness tester and DSC thermal analyzer. The chemical composition and its chemical group finger print analysis is also ascertained using FTIR spectra. The fabric stiffness results of coated fabrics show increased bending properties and the thermal property results from DSC and plotted graphs prove its robustness and resistance to heat. However, Roller coating method seems to be more efficient than exhaust method with respect to the application method employed for coating ethylene acrylic acid co-polymer.

۱٫ Introduction

A water-based polymer coating solution, namely ethylene acrylic acid co-polymer which is multifunctional in nature is coated on bleached cotton fabric with an objective to enhance its bending and thermal properties in this study. The bleached cotton fabric is coated with ethylene acrylic acid by padding and exhaust bath process. In this experimental study, small soft rollers are used for padding the cotton fabrics using ethylene acrylic acid solution. Ethylene acrylic acid is multifunctional co-polymer and is mainly used for textile fabric coatings and many other applications which are of medicinal value, including packaging substrates. This liquid forms a thin film and binds uniformly to the substrate when applied on the surface externally. The liquid also finds many applications in cosmetics and commercial polymer thin film products. The liquid is colorless, with no foul odor and hence is used in many textiles and non-woven textiles. The solution has excellent sealing, adhesion properties coupled with its flexibility and special hardness [1].

Coating formulation and its application on fabrics is a complicated process. Many chemicals and polymer additives are used for coating, since adhesion and durability properties are also important for a coated fabrics. The quality of coating is also determined by the coating method and machinery used for coating. There are many techniques of coating that are used in finishing process. Some of them are done using knife-over-roller method, particularly used for polymer coatings that are solvent based, dip-coating for variety of water-based polymers and fabric treatments [11,12,18]. The chemical formulations are based on the functional properties that is desired and the level of ethylene acrylic acid is also determined keeping the health hazard parameters that ethylene acrylic acid can cause to human skin [13,14].