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Plasma Technology and Its Application in Desizing of Textile

This document discusses the use of plasma technology for desizing textiles. It begins by introducing plasma treatment as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional wet processing that can modify surface properties without changing bulk properties. Plasma treatment shows potential for textile processing by reducing costs, energy usage, and pollution compared to wet processes like desizing that require large water usage. The document then discusses the types of plasma technologies, focusing on their use for desizing cotton fabrics. Atmospheric pressure plasma is shown to improve desizing rates for cotton by altering surface morphology and chemistry without affecting tensile strength.

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78 views7 pages

Plasma Technology and Its Application in Desizing of Textile

This document discusses the use of plasma technology for desizing textiles. It begins by introducing plasma treatment as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional wet processing that can modify surface properties without changing bulk properties. Plasma treatment shows potential for textile processing by reducing costs, energy usage, and pollution compared to wet processes like desizing that require large water usage. The document then discusses the types of plasma technologies, focusing on their use for desizing cotton fabrics. Atmospheric pressure plasma is shown to improve desizing rates for cotton by altering surface morphology and chemistry without affecting tensile strength.

Uploaded by

Abi Nikil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PLASMA TECHNOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATION IN

DESIZING OF TEXTILE

INTRODUCTION:

Plasma treatments are gaining popularity in the textile industry due to their numerous
advantages over conventional wet processing techniques. The plasma treatment does
not alter the bulk property. Plasma surface treatments show distinct advantages,
because they are able to modify the surface properties of inert materials, sometimes
with environment friendly devices.

Plasma treatment has huge potential as an alternate for the textile processing in terms
of cost saving,energy saving and eco-friendliness.As textile wet process includes-
desizing,,scouring,bleaching, dyeing /printing and finishing, they need huge amount
of water to be supplied and this causes huge water pollution. Plasma treatment has a
number of advantages as it is a dry process,needs minimum chemicals and causes no
down stream pollution.

“Plasma” derived from the Greek and referring to “something molded or


fabricated”.Plasma can be considered as a gaseous condition that contains several
excited species such as ions, free electrons and a large amount of visible, UV and IR
radiations. Plasma treatment can cause both chemical and physical changes on the
fibre surface to improve certain properties such as wettability,printing,dyeing and
finishing without any modification of the bulk.

The plasma state can be generated by:


1) Electrical energy
2) Nuclear energy
3) Thermal energy
4) Mechanical energy
5) Radiant energy

Plasma is a simple concept which refers to the fourth chemical state of matter. When
enough energy is added to each state it changes in sequence from solid to liquid and
from liquid to gas. Once in the gas phase if additional energy is forced into the
system, then the gas becomes ionized and reaches the plasma state. When the plasma
comes into contact with the material surface it transfers the additional energy from the
plasma to allow for subsequent reactions to take place on the material surface.The
below figure 1 shows the surface chemical structure when exposed to plasma.

Types of Plasma

The difference between plasmas can be made based on mainly by the charged particle
density, temperature, pressure and the presence/absence of electrical and magnetic
fields.
Fig-1. surface chemical structure when exposed to plasma.

Plasma is generally classified as thermal or nonthermal. In thermal plasma,


temperature of several thousand degrees is reached which is of a destructive nature
and no material can stand their action.Non-thermal plasmas are “cold” plasmas where
the chemically active environment is achieved at nearly room temperature.There are
two types of cold plasma which can be used for application on textiles, namely
vacuum pressure and atmospheric pressure.
Through recent reviews it has been realised that atmospheric pressure plasma can be
used for continuous process so that it becomes fast and economical.

Machinery :
The most important components of the plasma system are the plasma jets and
generators. Plasma is generated through a high-voltage discharge from within the jet.
In blown ion systems, oxygen and sometimes other gases such as nitrogen are
typically directed through the discharge which detaches part of the plasma and forces
it through the diaphragm to the material being treated. The diaphragm also limits what
is released; mainly any part of the plasma stream containing a charge, which is vital to
the process of properly treating a surface.
Depending on the surface being treated, normal/small plasma beam has a typical
treatment width around 25mm and can treat at speeds of 6-600 mm/minute. There are
also rotary systems available which consist of numerous plasma jets rotating at
extremely high speeds to treat large areas. These systems if properly tuned can treat
surfaces up to 2,000mm wide in a single pass.

Figure 5 – Industrial Rotary Plasma Treatment Figure 6 - Plasma Jet for Large
Treatment Widths Figure 7 - Open-air Plasma Jet for Various Applications (6)

Some of the basic forms of plasma treatment systems include: atmospheric/air plasma
(dry), flame plasma, and atmospheric chemical plasma. Air plasma systems utilize
either blown ion or blown arc technology. The main difference between these two is
that the blown ion method is effective with both conductive and non-conductive
surfaces. The chemical interaction of oxygen based plasma systems also create strong
covalent carbon-oxygen bonds which are of greater polarity than the initial
carbonhydrogen bonds. Blown ion systems are one of the most commonly used
plasma treatment methods. The below figure 2 shows the schematic of blown ion
system. The discharge occurs inside of the chamber making this method different
from most other forms of plasma treatment. Pressurized air is forced past a single
electrode inside of the chamber; electrons then become excited and create positively
charged ions. The pressurized air forces these positively charged ions out of the tip
and onto the surface of the substrate. The new positively charged surface is now much
more receptive to inks and adhesives.

Similar to the blown ion, the blown arc system forces air past two high-voltage
electrodes positively charging ion particles. This has a much larger surface area than
the blown ion method, but operates using the same basic concept. The Dyne-A-Mite
HP produced by Enercon is a form of blown arc treatment. The specifications claim
that it is capable of treating polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate,
nylon, vinyl, polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride, and all other types of
thermoformed plastics.The below figure shows the schematic of blown arc system.
Flame plasma systems combine compressed air and a flammable gas which is
combusted to create a large blue flame. The material surface only has to be exposed to
the flame for a brief period of time to become polarized through oxidation. This
process also leaves behind other chemicals on the surface that allow for a greater
surface adhesion in comparison to an air plasma treatment. The only setback is the
heat level required for this treatment. It is typically used to treat injection and blow-
molded products because in most cases their thickness can withstand the heat.

Atmospheric chemical plasma treatment systems are able to treat materials which
would previously be deemed untreatable. This method is considered a phenomenal
breakthrough simply because it is ideal for virtually any surface despite how rough or
delicate it may be. The plasma used is formed similarly to that of both the air plasma
and flame plasma treatment methods, but at low temperatures. Oxygen and acetylene
reactive gases are introduced to an electrically charged atmosphere with a proprietary
electrode, which produces a high density glow discharge. The resulting plasma sends
a bombardment of ions and electrons to the surface of the material. Low molecular
weight materials such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other nontoxic gases are
removed to expose a fresh new surface. While these contaminants are being removed
a fraction of the reactive components in the plasma and chemicals create a chemically
altered surface by depositing polar functional groups ready for adhesion. Utilization
of an atmospheric chemical plasma treatment creates a better surface tension than air
plasma systems, but similar in quality to that of a flame plasma treatment.
DESIZING:

Desizing Atmospheric pressure plasma treatment on cotton grey fabric (sized by


standard sizing recipe containing starch) with air and He gas mixture alters the surface
morphology, gives rise to desizing effect and enhance the wettability and wicking
action. The hitting of ions gave rise to loosening of the surfaces that were removed in
subsequent process of washing. The surface roughness as well as formation of (-C=O,
-OH or C-N) bonds created functional groups are responsible for improved
hydrophilic properties. The loss of weight in desizing process was more for plasma
treated fabric that too in initial part of treatment. These higher rates of desizing
plasma pre treated fabric can save time, energy and water. Atmospheric plasma
treatments are applied to Desizing the cotton (PVA were used for sizing) using air/He
and air/He/O2 combinations. These treatments remove PVA film and significantly
improve PDR (percent desizing ratio) by washing, especially by cold water washing.
The tensile strengths of cotton fabrics treated with atmospheric pressure plasma were
the same as for the unsized fabric. Results of the plasma treated PVA films revealed
surface chemical changes such as chain scission and formation of polar groups,with
solubility of PVA in cold water. Air/He/O2 plasma is more effective than air/He
plasma on PVA desizing (because of oxidation is more for Air/He/O2 plasma).
Schematic view of atmospheric plasma machine.

The plasma treatment was carried out on an atmospheric pressure plasma


equipment.It is based on dielctric barrier discharge principle.The air plasma zone
was created by applying 8 kV supply operating at 50 hertz. The assembly consists
of four stainless steel rods of length 50 cm mounted in the upper part. These rods
were suitably coated with dielectric material, and separated from each other, in the
horizontal direction, by about 3 cm so that the total width of the plasma zone was
about 12 cm. Similar four electrodes were mounted in the lower part , facing the
upper electrodes, so that the discharge could be produced in these pairs of
electrodes. The distance between the electrodes could be varied from 1 mm to 8
mm.The residence time in the plasma zone could be varied by changing the speed
of the take-up rollers. The amount of desizing caused during the plasma processing
was determined by gravimetric method.
References:

Taylor Wesley, “Technical Synopsis of Plasma Surface Treatments”,University of


Florida, Gainesville, FL December, 2009.

S K Chinta, S M Landage and Sathish Kumar, “PLASMA TECHNOLOGY & ITS


APPLICATION IN TEXTILE WET PROCESSING”.International Journal of
Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) Vol. 1 Issue 5, July - 2012 ISSN: 2278-
0181.

N V Bhat, R N Bharati, A V Gore & A J Patil. “Effect of atmospheric air plasma


treatment on desizing and wettability of cotton fabrics”Indian journal of fibre &
textile research, March 2011, vol-36, pg 42-46.

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