Investigation of Cotton Fabrics Treated With Sericin & Cross Linking Agents

Sericin is a natural protein which is removed from silk in a process called degumming. In India, 250-300 tons of sericin is extracted per year and goes as waste, it has wide range of application because of it properties like antioxidant, antibacterial, UV resistant, anticoagulant and moisture retention capacity. This project is concerned with application of sericin on 100% cotton fabrics using cross linking agents like Glutaraldihyde (GD). The cotton fabric is coated with non-formaldehyde cross linking agent. It is expected that the cotton fabric will have improved moisture absorbency, and very smooth surface leading to darker dyeing using acid dyes. The use of sericin makes this suitable for applications in medical textiles. In the present work the cotton fabric has been treated with Sericin gum using Glutaraldihyde as a cross linking agent in addition to this wetting agent has been used. The treatment has been carried out in Padding Mangle machine in the temperature of 100 o c for a period of 1hour. The treated sample has taken out and cured at 160oc for 2 minutes. Then the samples have tested for various properties such as Air permeability, wicking and FTIR investigations. Results shown that the air permeability of cotton fabric is high for certain concentrations of Sericin gum and when it comes to wicking the treated fabric act as water repellent.