Naik, Shailaja D.Bahuguna, Archana2022-07-022022-07-022017-05https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810185100Study on the possibility of treating cotton and polyester fabrics with plasma finish, surface morphology assessment and impact of washing on quality characteristics of plasma finished test samples was carried out during 2015-17 at Department of Textile and Apparel Designing, College of Rural Home Science, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. Cotton was exposed to helium-oxygen along with hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) monomer to introduce hydrophobicity and O2 gas to bring hydrophilicity in polyester. Flame retardancy was induced with He-O2 plasma treatment followed by flame retardant finish applying PYROVATEX® CP NEW (FR) and KNITTEX® FEL (melamine resin). Major alterations in fibre morphology observed were globular structure in cotton, abraded surface in polyester and microcracks in both, indicated bringing in hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity and flame retardancy, respectively. Furthermore, treated samples were subjected to 10 hand washings and evaluated for structural, performance, durable and functional properties after every 5th wash. Irrespective of the gases, improvement in softness, pliability, resiliency, dimensional stability, tensile strength and elongation percentage of test samples was due to sputtering, etching and cleaning action of plasma treatment. He-O2 plasma along with HMDSO monomer efficiently formulated cotton completely into hydrophobic (0 to 100 ratings) and hydrophilicity in polyester (80 to 0 ratings) by addition of more number of polar groups on oxygen plasma treatment. Similarly, increase in cloth count (1-2 %), thickness (12 %), corresponding GSM (14 % in cotton and 69 % in polyester) observed in post FR treated fabrics was due to deposition of FR agent into the micro-grooves formed due to plasma. Multiple washes showed alterations in values of hydrophobicity (100 to 50 ratings), hydrophilicity (0 to 50 ratings) and flame retardancy (DNI to 17-20 sec) but displayed greater influence of finish than control. Thus indicating efficiency of plasma treatment inducing a trend of water repellency, water absorption and flame resistance.EnglishThesis