The improvement of crease resistance and flame retardance properties of some natural and synthetic fibers using plasma technology

In the recent years, the textile industry is in search for alternative methods with the increasing consciousness of environment and human health. The plasma technology is such and alternative method as in this technology no water is used (thus no waste water is generated) and very little amount of chemical materials are involved. In this PhD thesis the application of plasma technology to the textile finishing processes such as flame retardancy and crease resistance is investigated, as these finishing processes involve high amount of chemical materials and are considered to be hazardous to the environment and human health.Plasma applications of acrylic acid and nitrogen are done to improve the crease resistancy properties of cotton, wool, polyamide and polyester fabrics. For the improvements in flame retardancy properties of these fabrics, silicone monomers (hexamethyldisilane and hexamethyldisiloxane) have been used. Plasma process duration and the power applied are taken as the variable parameters and the changes in the properties of the fabrics have been investigated. In order to characterize the fabrics, measurement of wrinkle recovery angle, vertical flammability test, wettability tests and breaking strength test with FTIR-ATR and AFM analysis have been carried out.