Effect of atmospheric pressure helium plasma on felting and low temperature dyeing of wool

Abstract

Wool fabrics were treated with atmospheric pressure helium glow discharge plasma in an attempt to improve felting and dyeing behavior with cold brand reactive dyes using cold pad-batch method at neutral pH. On glow plasma treatment, the hydrophilicity of wool surface and its resistance toward felting was greatly improved without any significant damage to the cuticle layer. The color strength of the plasma treated dyed wool on the surface (in terms of K/S) was found to be nearly double of the color strength of dyed untreated wool fabric. However, the corresponding total dye uptake of the treated wool increased by a much lower value of 40%-50%. The reason behind this altered dyeing behavior was investigated by studying the dye kinetics using infinite bath and surface characteristics using SEM and SIMS. It was found that the glow plasma treatment greatly transformed the chemical surface of the wool fibers. It resulted in uniform removal of hydrophobic cuticular layer, which resulted in better diffusion of the dye molecules into the fiber, and formation of hydrophilic ANH 2 groups near the surface, which helped in anchoring the dye molecules close to the surface giving higher color strength than expected.

Effects of Oxygen Plasma Treatment on the Physical and Chemical Properties of Wool Fiber Surface

“…Plasma treatment is a modification technique that is confined to the surface of fibers and their bulk properties are not affected [10]. Furthermore, this method is effective to achieve surface changes on the textile material by creating the functional groups on the textile surface and by changing the morphology of the fibers [11][12][13]. Surface modification and activation of wool fibers with plasma treatment results in increasing the diffusion rate of dye molecules into the wool fiber and reduce the dyeing temperature [14].…”

“…Surface modification and activation of wool fibers with plasma treatment results in increasing the diffusion rate of dye molecules into the wool fiber and reduce the dyeing temperature [14]. In addition, the plasma treatment can enhance the adhesion of deposited materials on the their surface [15] as well as improve the antifelting properties [11]. Moreover, the plasma treatment is used to active the surface of fiber and results in improving the adsorption and loading efficiency of nanoparticles [16,17].…”

Low‐temperature plasma processing for the enhancement of surface properties and dyeability of wool fabric

“…Panda et al . reported the low‐temperature dyeing of helium plasma treated wool and found a 40–45% increase in the dye uptake . Ghoranneviss et al .…”

“…22 Panda et al reported the low-temperature dyeing of helium plasma treated wool and found a 40-45% increase in the dye uptake. 23 Ghoranneviss et al found increased color strength of wool at low temperature with an improvement in antibacterial activity with plasma sputtering. 16 The disadvantage of gaseous plasma treatment is that it is not permanent and leads to hydrophobic recovery when the samples are stored for a long time.…”

Study on atmospheric air glow discharge plasma generation based on multiple potentials and aramid fabric surface modification

“…Low temperature plasma surface modification technology has broad application prospects because of its remarkable advantages such as high efficiency, low energy consumption, environmental protection, and it only acts on the surface of fibers without affecting the properties of the main stems of fibers . Furthermore, low temperature plasma generated by glow discharge is considered to be the best choice for material surface modification because of its good discharge uniformity, abundant active particles, and appropriate power density …”