The effect of plasma pre-treatment on NaHCO3 desizing of blended sizes on cotton fabrics

The influence of the He/O2 atmospheric pressure plasma jet pre-treatment on subsequent NaHCO3 desizing of blends of starch phosphate and poly(vinyl alcohol) on cotton fabrics is investigated. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy analysis indicate that the surface topography of the samples has significantly changed and the surface roughness increases with an increase in plasma exposure time. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis shows that a larger number of oxygen-containing polar groups are formed on the sized fabric surface after the plasma treatment. The results of the percent desizing ratio (PDR) indicate that the plasma pretreatment facilitated the blended sizes removal from the cotton fabrics in subsequent NaHCO3 treatment and the PDR increases with prolonging plasma treatment time. The plasma technology is a promising pretreatment for desizing of blended sizes due to dramatically reduced desizing time.

► The dissolubility of the blend of PVA and starch phosphate treated by plasma and subsequent NaHCO3 treatment is studied. ► The change of surface morphology and surface chemical composition of blends treated by plasma were studied. ► The influence of plasma treatment time on the NaHCO3 desizing is investigated. ► The influence of NaHCO3 treatment time and temperature on the PDR of the samples with plasma treatment.