LAUSR

By employing 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) as the finishing agent, SHP as the catalyst and neutral salts NaCl and Na2SO4 as the additives, anti-wrinkle finish of cotton fabrics was carried out here. According to the Donnan equilibrium model and the actions of neutral salts in dyeing process of cellulosic fabrics, NaCl and Na2SO4 should both promote the adsorption of BTCA anions onto the surface of fibers and diffusion into the interior of fibers. Consequently, BTCA would crosslink the interior molecular chains of cellulose, improving the anti-wrinkle properties of treated fabrics. In fact, experimental results confirmed the hypothesis that the two additives of neutral salts indeed both improved wrinkle recovery angle (WRA) of the treated fabrics and the optimal molar ratio of NaCl or Na2SO4 to BTCA was 0.2:1 or 0.3:1, respectively. The neutral salts reduced the dosage of BTCA without decreasing WRA, reducing the manufacturing cost. Besides, the fabrics treated with neutral salts presented good durability. Furthermore, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Xray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analyses revealed that neutral salts could catalyze the formation of BTCA anhydride by decreasing hydrogen-bond interactions between BTCA molecules.