Anti-felting Oxidation Treatment of Cashmere Fibers

Abstract

Cashmere fiber produces felting during laundering because of its scale. In this work, anti-felting treatment of cashmere fibers was investigated using the potassium permanganate oxidizing method, and the optimum oxidizing treatment parameter was obtained through orthogonal experiment. The fibers felting, tensile property, scale morphology, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and directional frictional effect of oxidized cashmere fibers were also tested. Experimental results showed that optimum anti-felting condition of cashmere fiber was 3g/L potassium permanganate (KMnO4) for 20min under the condition at temperature 50°C and pH3. The felting assembly volume of oxidized cashmere decreased. XPS test showed that hydroxyl group (-OH) content of oxidized cashmere fiber lowed.