Soil-release behaviour of polyester fabrics after chemical modification with polyethylene glycol

The ease of cleaning the fibers depends, among other characteristics, on their hydrophilicity. Hydrophilic fibers are easy-wash materials but hydrophobic fibers are difficult to clean due to their higher water-repellent surfaces. This type of surfaces, like polyester (PET), produce an accumulation of electrostatic charges that adsorbs and retain dirt. Thus, the polyester soil-release properties can be increased by finishing processes that improve fiber hydrophilicity [1, 2]. In present study, PET fabric modification was described by using polyethylene glycol (PEG) and dimetilol dihidroxy ethylene urea chemically modified resin. Briefly, the modification process was carried out in two steps, one to hydrolyse the polyester and create hydroxyl and carboxylic acid groups on surface and the other to crosslink the PEG chains. The resulting materials were characterized by contact angle, DSC and FTIR- ATR methods. Additionally, the soil release behavior and mechanical properties of modified PET were evaluated. For the best process conditions, the resulted PET presented 0º contact angle, stain release grade of 5 and acceptable mechanical performance.Programme - COMPETE and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136.