Lipid soil removal from cotton fabric after mercerization and carboxymethylation finishing

Soiling and soil removal from cotton fabrics that had been chemically modified by mercerization and carboxymethylation were studied using electron microscopy and radiotracer techniques. The distribution of lard soil in specimens before and after laudering was determined by means of chemical tagging with osmium tetroxide. Both the chemical and physical changes of the cotton resulted in differences in soiling and soil removal of lipid soil. Mercerization and carboxymethylation of cotton swell the cotton fiber, decrease the crenulation and the lumen, and smooth the fiber surface. These finishes also increase the pore volume and thus the chemical accessibility of the fibrillar structure. In addition, carboxymethylation causes changes in the chemistry of the fiber by increasing the carboxyl group content. These structural changes reduce the amount of soil deposited in the lumen of the fiber, particularly for the carboxymethylated cotton. They also increase soil removal from the crenulation and the interfiber spaces in the yarn bundle. Soil removal from fiber surfaces and from within the fiber—both lumen and secondary wall—was highest for the carboxymethylated cotton, and mercerization also enhanced lipid soil removal. The results of this experiment indicate that chemical accessibility and hydrophilicity of the fiber structure influence both soil deposition and soil removal of lipid soils. Soil removal of these modified cottons is enhanced by multiple mechanisms: (i) the decrease in small crevices and the crenulation or small capillary along the fiber, (ii) the increase in pore volume that enhances chemical accessibility and thus detergency within the fiber structure, (iii) the increase in hydrophilicity that enhances soil removal from the surface by the roll-up mechanism, (iv) the increase of mechanical action due to enhanced swelling of the carboxymethylated cotton, and (v) the reduction of soil redeposition on carboxymethylated surfaces.