In order to understand the effect of laundering by detergent containing bleaches on cotton fabrics, two detergents with and without bleaches were used during laundering, and the changes in structures and properties of cotton fabrics were investigated after laundering. The structure of the cotton before and after laundering was evaluated by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and field scanning electron microscopy (FSEM). Meanwhile, the tensile strength, copper number and dyeing properties of cotton fabric have been studied for evaluating the chemical damage. The results showed that the damage of fabric laundering by detergents containing bleaches is more serious than that by detergents without bleaches. FTIR and copper number results revealed that the C-6 hydroxyl groups of the glucose repeating unit of cellulose were oxidized. XRD, FSEM and dyeing results indicated that the cotton fabrics have been damaged during laundering with detergents containing bleaches.

This study presents an experimental investigation of the relationship between liquid surface tension and fabrics water retention in dehydration processes such as centrifuging, line drying and heat drying. Selected surfactants were used to prepare wash baths with different surface tension, and dehydrating experiments of cotton fabric after immersion in above bath were conducted. The results showed that lower surface tension is beneficial to reducing fabrics water retention by centrifuging and improving line drying efficiency and heat drying efficiency. It was assumed that water with low surface tension is easy to drop down or separate from fabric, thus improving the de-watering and drying efficiency.

In this paper, temperature-sensitive PET fabrics were prepared by Ar-plasma-induced simultaneous grafting Ploy-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAAm) onto PET fabric. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to identify the structure of the grafted fabric. Then the surface morphology of the grafted fabric was observed from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and AFM. The results show that the PNIPAAm was grafted onto PET fabrics, respectively. The grafted PET fabrics are characterized by differential scanning calorimetric analysis (DSC). The DSC analysis results indicated that LCST value of the grafted fabric was around 32°C. And the water permeability of the grafted sample showed a sharp change around 32°C. It was proved that grafted fabric was sensitive to temperature.

The performance of heat transfer coefficient, wicking and water vapour permeability (WVP) of cotton fabric were tested after adding amino-functional silicone softening agent in simulating process of home laundry. Meanwhile, the experiment of line drying of fabric soaked in water after spinning was designed to study the impact of soft nursing care on drying efficiency of fabric. The result showed that with the amino-functional silicone softening agent added, handle was improved obviously. With the concentration of softening agent increasing, WVP of fabric increased, while heat transfer coefficient had the opposite result. Wicking effect increased slowly at the beginning and decreased sharply later. It was found that soft nursing care improved the drying efficiency.