Chitosan

Textile industry is an omnipresent industry. It has found applications over such wide range, which perhaps no other industry, except Information technology and Computers, could found. This is the reason various branches of Science and technology have been collaborated with this industry. This collaboration makes the application of various fundamentals and materials possible in textile industry. The field of Biomaterials is one such field, which provides various new materials to textile industry for obtaining better results in most ecofriendly and economical ways. Successful application of enzymes on shop floor in textile wet processing is a very good example. Now another biomaterial is about to enter in the textile industry, this material called, as “Chitosan” is not a new biomaterial; however, some lateral thinking of research workers has found some novel application of this biomaterial.

A glance at Chitosan:

Chitin is one of the most abundant polysaccharides found in nature. It is a white flaky material, found in the exoskeletons of arthropods such as insect spiders, some fungi, crabs, and shrimp. Chitosan is a derivative of Chitin produced by N-acetylation of the chitin molecule. It is often considered a cellulose derivative, although it does not occur in organisms producing cellulose. The difference between cellulose and Chitosan is that the 2-hydroxy group of the cellulose has been replaced with an acetamide group. This results in several Beta-(1 -> 4)-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D- glucopyrnaose structural units (GlcNAc).Chitin and Chitosan have the potential to reduce and to solve some problems for creating "Greener" environment.

The chemical structure of Chitin and Chitosan are shown in Fig.

Chitosan in Wool Processing:

Additives and additional processes for bet

ter wool processing are being researched extensively for better dyeing, anti-felting, and anti-shrinking properties. Chitosan and Chitin have also enticed the attention of the research workers for their application in this area. In protonated form, Chitosan behaves like a polyelectrolyte, forming a viscous solution and interacting with oppositely charged molecules. However, it has weak binding properties for the fibre, in addition the even distribution on the fibre is very difficult obtain.

The binding properties of Chitosan on wool using a solution containing a non-ionic surfactant have been studied and it has also been shown that the oxidative treatment with the help of hydrogen peroxide and enzymes before the application of Chitosan, gives better binding properties uniform distribution.

Soil release finish

The purpose of soil release finishes is to improve soil removal from hydrophobic of durable press finished fabrics. Soil release does not include detergency of particulate soil but it reduces soil redeposition.
Soiling can be of two types, dry soiling (actual use) and wet soiling (during laundering operations where soil redeposition occurs). Soil is transported to the fabric and then deposited on to it by

• Air currents
• Electrostatic attraction
• Contact transfer from soiled surface to cleaner surface by pressure, abrasion, impingement.

The soil release finishes are available as emulsion, solutions or dispersions and they are either hygroscopic or increase hydrophilicity on water immersion. they also function as antistats. The soil release activity of finish should last for 20-50 home launderings and they should be stable to abrasion. The finish should not be toxic, irritant and should not affect the durablity and wear life of the garment.

The soil release effect may be imparted by a) topochemical reactions such as grafting, hydrolysis or oxidation, b) durable physical adsorption of surfactnats on fibre surface and c) coating with soil release polymers.

Denim Jeans

In the growing world market for leisure wear, denim holds a dominating position today. In the 1950’s when Marlon Brando and James Dean made blue jeans respectable, denim began its progress round the world. Since then it developed into a fashion unequaled in its variety. It is one of the most successful textile fabrics ever developed. This classic fabric has been in use for a long time across the world. Traditionally, denim has been referred to as a heavy grade cotton twill fabric with indigo dyed warps. Today, denim jeans is available in a rainbow of colors and in black color as well, in addition to without any color at all.
Denim continues to be mainly used for jeans both women’s jeans and men’s jeans. Denim is bleached, brushed, sanded, ice-washed, ripped, torn and even shot with bullets to give character to what is otherwise a rather mundane material. Denim jeans is truly a fabric that appeals to all classes of people of all ages. For women’s jeans, it comes in various sizes depending on the body type such as slim, curvy, athletic, full figure, short and long which can be found on various online shoping sites.