Abstract
The effects of silicone treatment on the wrinkle recovery and the dimensional stability of wool fabrics were investigated. Full decatized 100% wool fabrics were treated with a pad-dry-cure process from an aqueous bath containing the combination of silicone softeners and other additives. The silicone softeners used were aminofunctional, epoxyfunctional, and polyoxyalkylene modified epoxyfunctional reactive polydimethylsiloxanes. As a result, the wrinkle recovery of treated wool fabric was improved by silicone treatment without apparent changes in the dimensional stability. The synergetic effects by blending aminofunctional and epoxyfunctional silicone softeners, on the wrinkle recovery and mechanical properties of the treated fabrics were resulted due to the catalytic effects of amine on the epoxy reaction. Furthermore, problems of aminofunctional silicone softeners, such as yellowing and dimensional stability, were improved by mixing up with epoxyfunctional silicones.