In this work, the silver particle absorption and antibacterial activity of cotton fabric when modified by low temperature plasma were investigated. The modification consisted of plasma prefunctionalization followed by one-step wet treatment with silver nitrate solution. Oxygen and nitrogen were used as the working gases in the system, and the results were compared. The results showed that nitrogen plasma-treated samples can absorb more silver particles than oxygen-treated samples, and thus the antibacterial activity of the samples in this case, which was analyzed by the counting bacteria test, was increased considerably.

The thermal degradation of wool treated with the flame retardant synergistic system, zirconium acetate, acid citric, and hydrochloric acid, was studied by thermal analysis, mass loss, the limiting oxygen index (LOI), and the vertical flame test. SEM pictures were provided to study the morphology of the treated samples. The flame-retardant treated wool indicated a decrease in the temperature of decomposition, an increase in the residual mass and LOI, comparing with the untreated wool.The central composite design (CCD) was used for the experimental plan with four variables on the results of flame retardant. Statistical analysis confirmed the optimum conditions obtained by the experimental results.

The current study investigates the use of ultrasonic energy to provide a more efficient and eco-friendly mercerizing process. For both conventional and ultrasound-assisted techniques, the process variables, including sodium hydroxide concentration, reaction time, temperature, tensile strength and degree of mercerization, were modeled and compared by using the response surface methodology (RSM). The results revealed that the relationship between explanatory and response variables was similar in both techniques. However, there were greater changes for the ultrasonic-assisted treatment of samples. The optimum process parameters showed a lower alkali concentration in the mercerizing bath (≈17 %) and a higher tenacity (≈23 %) during the ultrasonic-assisted process, while the degree of mercerization was also higher in the same fibers. The study concluded that the ultrasound-assisted mercerization could be introduced as a more efficient alternative to the conventional mercerization process.