Thermal properties of silk modified with BTCA

초록

Silk is one of the most desirable textile materials because of its excellent properties such as handle or luster that distinguish them from other fibers. However, it has some minor textile performances such as crease recovery, dimensional stability, rubbing reisistance, photo-yellowing stability, etc. During the past three decades, graft copolymerization of the protein fibers with vinyl monomers was interested to increase their crease recovery property due to very low wet resiliency. 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxyic acid (BTCA) has low volatility, no odor, low skin irritation, as well as low oral and dermal toxicity in animal tests so that it will be the alternative of formaldehyde containing durable press (DP) finishing agents such as dimethyloldihydroxy ethylenurea (DMDHEU), the most popular finishing agent. Silk fabrics were chemically modified by 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA). The thermal properties of them were evaluated with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).