Kinetic studies of crease-resistant finishing process for cotton fabrics with DMEU/MMEU prepolymer mixture

The kinetics of the crease-resistant finishing process for cotton fabrics with DMEU/MMEU prepolymer mixture are studied. The DMEU/MMEU prepolymer resin is made from ethylene urea (EU) and paraformaldehyde (PF) with different mole ratios. The results show that the nitrogen content in the treated fabrics and the reaction rate constant increases with curing temperature and PF mole ratio. The treated fabrics with more PF in the source material have smaller Ea, Δ H*ast;, and ΔS*. The ΔG* was independent of the mole ratio in the source material, but it increases with curing temperature. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 85: 509–513, 2002