Surface chemical analysis of the effect of curing conditions on the properties of thermally-cured pigment printed poly (lactic acid) fabrics

• PLA fabrics were pigment printed and thermally cured at different conditions.
• XPS was used to characterise the surface functionalities and elemental composition.
• XPS analysis indicated the damage of PLA fibre at higher curing temperature.
• Higher curing temperature and time enabled the formation of more cohesive film.
• The most suitable curing condition for pigment printing of PLA was established.

Colouration of poly (lactic acid) textile materials using pigments is particularly interesting because of the commercial importance of pigment prints and the sensitivity of poly (lactic acid) fibres to aqueous treatment; however the processing requires optimisation because of the fibre's heat sensitivity. In this study, poly (lactic acid) fabrics were screen pigment printed and thermally cured at different temperatures, ranging from 120 °C to 150 °C, and curing times, from 3 min to 5 min. Surface sensitive X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) was used to probe the nature of the outer 1–10 nm of the untreated and heat treated poly (lactic acid) surfaces, in order to characterise the surface functionalities and elemental composition. In addition, the effect of curing temperature and time on the performance characteristics of pigment printed poly (lactic acid) fabrics in terms of colour fastness, burst strength, abrasion resistance, Kawabata Evaluation System for Fabrics (KES-F) parameters and surface morphology were evaluated and optimum curing conditions for the pigment printing of poly (lactic acid) fabrics were established.