The application of He/O2 atmospheric pressure plasma jet and ultrasound in desizing of blended size on cotton fabrics

This study investigates the influence of the He/O-2 atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and ultrasound treatment on desizing of the blended sizes of starch phosphate and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) on cotton fabrics. The AFM and SEM results indicate that APPJ treatment can increase the surface roughness of the sized fabrics. The SEM results also reveal that the fiber surfaces are nearly as clean as unsized fiber surfaces after 35 s treatment followed by ultrasound desizing for 20 min at 60 degrees C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis indicates that oxygen-based functional groups increase on the surfaces of the plasma treated sized fabrics. The PDR of the sized fabrics treated by APPJ dramatically increases when ultrasound was introduced during the desizing process, and the desizing time and temperature are greatly reduced. Wickability analysis reveals that the capillary height of the fabrics treated by plasma and ultrasound was higher than that of the fabrics treated by plasma and hot washing under different plasma exposure time. Therefore, the combination of the APPJ and ultrasound has shown higher effectiveness in desizing and provides an alternative approach that decreases the water, energy and chemicals consumption. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.