Effect of electro-spraying treatment on anti-pilling performance of wool fabrics

Wool fabrics are prone to fuzzing and pilling when they are worn by external forces. To deal with this problem, the electro-spraying technique capable of producing monodisperse micro liquid particles was used to treat wool fabrics. Commonly used finishing agents hydrogen peroxide and chitosan solution were employed in the experiments to explore the effects of finishing agent type, solution concentration and treatment time on anti-pilling performance of wool fabrics, and the morphological changes of the wool fabrics and fiber surfaces after electro-atomization finishing were observed by scanning electron microscope. The results show that the particles produced by electro-spraying chitosan solution encapsulates the surface of the wool fiber, and the anti-pilling result is increased by more than 1 level. After electro-spraying of hydrogen peroxide solution, a certain destructive effect was observed on the surface scales of the wool fiber, and the anti-pilling grade is increased by more than 0.5 level. Joint electro-spraying hydrogen peroxide and chitosan solution treatment to the wool fabrics for a long time (e.g. 240min) demonstrates the best anti-pilling effect. © 2021, Periodical Agency of Journal of Textile Research. All right reserved.