Supercritical carbon dioxide assisted silicon based finishing of cellulosic fabric: a novel approach

Usage of supercritical carbon dioxide as a medium for finishing cotton fabrics with modified dimethylsiloxane polymers terminated with silanol groups was investigated, different cross-linkers namely 3-isocyanatepropyltriethoxysilane (IPES) and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) were used for covalently bonding between silicon and cellulose. The presence and the amount of PDMS compounds on the treated fabrics were characterized by FT-IR. Qualitative and quantitative information on the distribution of the silicon molecules across the fibre cross section was provided by SEM/EDX analysis and Confocal Raman microscopy (CRM) respectively. The results confirm that all fibres treated with PDMS and IPES have larger silicon amounts than those treated with TEOS. SC-CO2 medium provides good coating of cotton surface with a 3D network of DMS compound and cross linker, and leads to forming highest DMS concentration in a layer between 1 and 2μ under the surface of cotton fabrics.