Improvement of cotton fabric detergency with prior surface treatment

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the effect of treatment of EMPA standard cotton fabric with UV-C radiation to determine the performance of detergency with treated and untreated fabric, as well as redeposition of impurities after washing those fabrics. The detergent formulations used for testing were an anionic surfactant, sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS), and a non-ionic surfactant, alcohol ethoxylate (AE-7) with 7 moles EO, separately and in mixtures of the two in varying molar ratios. The impurities used for evaluation of detergency were oleic acid as an oily impurity and carbon black as a solid impurity. Redeposition of the solid impurity was studied using carbon black in the wash. Differences in capillarity for water absorption by the cotton fabric and superficial chemical changes on the surface of the fabric were determined using the corresponding FTIR infrared spectrum