Revista de Ciência e Engenharia Têxtil

Drape is an important property, which affects the aesthetic appearance of fabrics used in garments in this study, a simple, easy and precise method for measuring fabric drape using the image processing technique was demonstrated. The study was conducted using a range of knitted and woven fabric samples. The fabrics were conventionally evaluated using the German drape meter instrument. The average drape coefficient of each fabric sample obtained through the conventional drape meter technique was compared statistically with that obtained through the new proposed digital technique. The results agreed with those obtained from the image processing technique with a high correlation coefficient (r=0.9970). Drapeability assessment has been done on the basis of changes in drape coefficient (DC), drape parameters, node parameters and structural parameters. Also, a method of expressing drape, node and structural parameters relating to the drape coefficient of fabrics has been developed. This method involves the area of polygon area. Two regression models were proposed for both conventional and digital image techniques and for all fabrics using the multiple linear regressions. The regression results were analyzed in terms of correlation coefficients. These regression models are shown to predict the drape coefficient accurately.

The purpose of this research was to develop water soluble textile modifiers based on biopolymer having improved textile properties including tensile strength, moisture absorption, wash resistance, dye-ability and colour fastness properties. Two fibre reactive chitosan derivatives such as N-(2-hydroxy) propyl-3-trimethylammonium chitosan chloride (HTAChC) and N-methylolacrylamide-N-(2-hydroxy) propyl-3-trimethylammonium chitosan chloride (NMAHTAChC) were synthesized from chitosan through dispersion of chitosan with glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride (GTMAC) in aqueous medium and dissolution of HTAChC in aqueous N-methylolacrylamide (NMA) solution in presence of NH4Cl and 4-methoxyphenol, respectively. The physicochemical properties of prepared derivatives were studied and the degree of quaternization (DQ) of HTAChC was 0.94, double bond content of the NMA-HTAChC was 0.926 mmol/g and moisture content of HTAChC and NMA-HTAChC were 22.06% and 18.78%, respectively. The FTIR spectra of HTAChC showed prominent peak at 1480 cm-1 (C-H bending), 1650 cm-1 (C=O group) and that of NMA-HTAChC showed the peaks at 1670 cm-1 (C=O stretch) and 1545 cm-1 (N–H bending) which confirms the synthesized derivatives. The prepared derivatives were further used for modification of cotton and jute fibres Graft yield percent of HTAChC and NMA-HTAChC on cellulose fibre surfaces were 10.69% and 14.74% for jute and 14.56% and 18.86% for cotton, respectively. Grafting was investigated by FTIR, SEM, TGA, DTA and DTG analyses. The surface of modified fibre was investigated by SEM and the surface was smoother than unmodified fibre. The modified fibre showed decreased thermal stability, improved moisture absorption, wash resistances and tensile strength compared to unmodified fibres. It was also observed that textile modifying properties of NMA-HTAChC is better than HTAChC due to higher fibre affinity of NMA-HTAChC to cellulose fibres. Dyeing of modified and unmodified cotton and jute fibres with reactive and direct dyes revealed that dye exhaustions were increased up to 10% due to modification.

Trevira CS knitted fabrics are treated with Eucalyptus oil and DEPA (N, N, Diethylphenylaccetamide) and evaluated for mosquito-repellent properties using Cage Test, Indoor Test, Field Test and assessment of fragrance decay. It is observed that Trevira CS fabrics treated with 15-30% Eucalyptus Oil exhibit good mosquito-repellency. Similarly, the fabric treated with 15% N, N-Diethylphenylacetamide (DEPA) exhibits good mosquito-repellency with a higher mean protection time.