Influence of Water in Wool Treatments with Sodium Methoxide in 2-Propanol Medium to Improve Shrink Resistance

Abstract

The use of sodium methoxide or sodium hydroxide at low concentrations in a 2- propanol medium can be considered as a treatment for substantial shrinkage reduction in wool fabrics. In order to determine which experimental conditions are the most closely related to the shrink-resist effect, we studied the influence of water content, reagent concentration, and treatment time, as well as the percent shrinkage, whiteness index, alkali solubility, cystine content, and reagent exhaustion. The results show that the presence of water in this kind of treatment is especially important. Different effects on wool fabrics are obtained with sodium methoxide treatments in a 2-propanol me dium, depending on whether water is present in either the treatment liquor or the fibers.

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