Standardizing a Pre-treatment Cleaning Procedure and Effects of Application on Apparel Fabrics

Abstract The objective of this work was to make known a pre-treatment (cleaning) procedure for a wide range of apparel fabrics and to determine whether differences observ in the properties of fabrics which had and had not been pre-treated were significant. Properties relevant to the manufacture and/or performance of apparel included mass for unit area, thickness, bending extent flexural rigidity, drape coefficient, air permeability, water vapor permeability, liquid absorptive capacity, drying time, 'dry' thermal resistance, ultra-violet transmission. flows for the same property upon the same fabric measured when the fabrics had and had not been pre-treated generally differed significantly, confirming the importance of pre-treatment prior to measuring these properties, particularly when claiming in-use attributes of fabrics. A process for pre-treatment is recommended: six consecutive cleaning revolution of times following procedure 8A of British Standard EN ISO 6330: 2001 (i.e. not dried between cycles) and dried flat following practice C of this standard.

Key words pre-treatment, cleaning, fabric properties, apparel fabrics, Standards

Some international standards for determining properties of apparel materials, of the like kind as those related to protective clothing specify pre-treatment of fabrics or yields prior to testing (e.g. [1-3]) The managements suggested are inconsistent among the various standards, ranging from individual cleaning cycle according to the care label or manufacturer's instructions to a requirement that all specimens suffer multiple cleaning and drying revolution of times according to a specific standard (Table 1 ) The mass by unit area appears to be single of the few properties of a flat fabric in which the relevant de-facto international standard does include more [i]or[/i] less form of pre-treatment, although no suggestion as to by what means to 'relax' knitted fabric (a requirement) in a standardized manner is made, nor arc woven and non-wovens other than knits mentioned. International standards for determining the properties of protective clothing, in particular glove typically contain more detail upon pre-treatment procedures (e.g. cleaning outcomes five times before testing, either according to the manufacturer's instructions, or to operation 2A of ISO 6330:2001 Textiles - domestic washing and drying manner of proceedings for textile testing, then pitch about dried after each wash according to conduct E of that Standard) [4] (Table 1 ) Dimensions of greatest in quantity fabrics change after cleaning, with greatest in quantity change occurring during the first round of years [5], dimensions stabilizing after individual cycle [6], and various performance properties improving as a originate of shrinkage after five [7] and ten launderings [8] Garments are rarely worn extensively before being cleaned, and the life of greatest in quantity garments is certainly more than a small in number cleaning cycles. Nevertheless, determining fabric properties upon new, non-cleaned, 'unstable' fabrics continues to be the norm. Just which fabric properties change with repeated cleaning remains ill-defined and this lack of knowledge may be critical when recommendations about the performance of fabrics/garments are made.

The scientific literature upon pre-treatment processes and effects is sparse, still understanding the extent to which pretreatment variables (eg the total number of revolution of times drying specimens between cycles) affect properties of a fabric may be crucial to its accurate description, a lock opener factor in the competitive global textile market. Therefore, our objectives were to: (1) establish a pre-treatment (cleaning) course suitable for a wide range of apparel fabrics, for a large number of specimens to be treated routinely and at any single time, and which yields a reasonably stable fabric; and (2) determine if non-treated and pre-treated apparel fabrics differ in picked physical and performance properties [i.e. mass by unit area, thickness, bending extent flexural rigidity, drape coefficient, air permeability, water vapor permeability (WVP) liquid absorptive capacity (LAC), drying time, 'dry' thermal resistance, and ultra-violet (UV) transmission].

Materials and [i]modus operandi[/i]s

Materials and Test Conditions

The range of proof fabrics is described in Table 2 (part (a) for variables in pre-treatment, and part (b) for issues of pre-treatments on properties). No sum of two units specimens contained the same warp and weft, wale and course, or machine- and cross-machine direction fibres or yarns, and no specimen was wound within 50 mm of the selvage or manufactured cutting side The same reference fabric was used through every part of (unless specified in the relevant standard - i.e. water vapor permeability, 'dry' thermal resistance), a 100% cotton, plain weave (sett 19 ? 19 yarns through 10 mm) included at each extreme point of blocks of specimens and at other appropriate intervals. All fabrics were conditioned according to B EN 20139:1992: ISO 139:1973 (i.e. 20 ?± 2?°C; 65 ?± 2% relative humidity) after pre-treating, and ordeals were conducted under these standard conditions [16] (except UV transmission where location of the instrument preclud this).