Surface Etherification of Cotton Fabric for Enhanced Water Absorption Using Microwave Energy

Water sorption is one of the most important properties affecting the comfort in clothing. Fabric should be able to absorb sweat from skin and transfer it to the outer surface. In this research, cotton fabric was treated with monochloro acetic acid by microwave irradiation (885 W for 6 min). In this method, hydroxyl functional groups were replaced by carboxyl functional groups and hydrophilicity of the cotton fabric was improved. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) was performed to detect chemical etherification bonding between cellulose and monochloro acetic acid. The results showed that the vapor and water sorption of treated fabrics increased by 48% and 43%, respectively. The proposed model shows that the saturation time is increased significantly for the treated fabrics. The contact angle of water on treated fabric decreased to about 30°.