ORIGINAL PAPER

Development of some functional properties on viscosefabrics using nano kaolin

Amira Adel Abou El-Kheir . Mohamed Ezzat . Fattma Bassiouny .

Lamiaa Kamal El-Gabry

Received: 13 November 2017 / Accepted: 22 May 2018

� Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract Nanoclays are among the more important

industrial minerals. They are inexpensive, widely

available in nature, and environment friendly. Nano

kaolin (NK) is used to impart additional values of

viscose fabrics. The mentioned fabrics were treated

with different concentrations of NK using pad-dry

cure technique. The surface morphology and surface

chemical elements of treated as well as untreated

fabrics were investigated using scanning electron

microscopy and dispersive X-ray spectroscopy,

respectively. Tensile strength and elongation, thick-

ness, bending length, moisture regain and antimicro-

bial activity of the treated fabrics were evaluated. New

colouring material (Thiazolidin), direct and reactive

dyes were used for dyeing the treated and untreated

fabrics. K/S and washing fastness of the dyed fabrics

were assessed and statistically compared using t test.

The effect of treatment and dying on performance

properties of garments were evaluated by calculating

quality factor for each fabric.

Keywords Viscose fabrics � Nano kaolin �Thiazolidin � Physical properties � Mechanical

properties � Antimicrobial activity

Introduction

Regenerated viscose fabrics and their blends have a

great effect on textile industry especially in clothing

sector due to their excellent hygroscopicity, breatha-

bility, silk-like feel, beautiful drape, and comfort.

Viscose fiber is the most important alternative for

cotton and other natural fibers in many countries.

However, the disadvantages of viscose fiber are that

the fiber can be easily ignited (Doraiswamy et al.

1991; Sarioglu and Celik 2015). The crease resistance,

wet and dry tear strength of this type of fiber are also

poor (Shaikh et al. 2012).

Lots of studies have been carried out on viscose

fabrics to improve their physical and mechanical

properties including tensile and tear strength.

Recent studies are mainly focused on applying

nanotechnology in textile industry, instead of the

conventional methods (Ki et al. 2007), to produce

smart textile of multifunctional or special functions,

such as antibacterial, coloration, UV-protection (El-

Rafie et al. 2010; Emam et al. 2014; Rehan et al. 2015),

A. A. Abou El-Kheir (&) � L. K. El-GabryProteinic and Man-made Fibres Department, Textile

Research Division, National Research Centre, Cairo,

Egypt

e-mail: amiraadell@yahoo.com

M. Ezzat

Clothing and Knitting Department, Textile Research

Division, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt

F. Bassiouny

Pharmaceutical and Drug Industries Research Division,

National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt

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Cellulose

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-018-1865-5

super hydrophobic (Su and Li 2010), and fire retardant

products (Lu et al. 2011).

Nanomaterials such as layered silicate clays, car-

bon nanotubes, nanosilica and nano TiO2 have been

incorporated in the base of polymeric coating to

enhance the performance of the coated textiles (Joshi

and Bhattacharyya 2011). Nanoclay particles in textile

coating are one of the modern technologies which

bring revolutionary changes in textile finishing as they

can incorporated with hyper branched polymer and

applied on textile substrate (Paluvai et al. 2016).

Commonly Nanoclay particles have a group of

important hydrous aluminum silicates with a layered

structure and very small size. Nano clay, modified

with quaternary ammonium salts, are used to create

dyeing sites into polypropylene fibres (Fan et al.

2003).

Ghosh (2011) used some coating finishing materi-

als, soil repellent finishing agents, and acetic acid to

impart viscose fabrics soil release, water repellent as

well as improved wet tenacity and elastic recovery.

El-Gabry et al. (2013) reported that viscose fibre

was treated with nano silicon dioxide to enhance both

tear strength and antibacterial activity.

Asal et al. reported that the dyeing of viscose

fabrics was improved after treatment of that fabric

with clay nanoparticles. Fabrics treated with clay

nanoparticles can be dyed with various types of

dyestuffs such as reactive, direct, disperse and sulfur

dyes. The results of light fastness at 72 h showed strict

changing of color shift (Asal et al. 2016). Adeyemo

et al. (2017) used various types of clays as adsorbent

agent for the removal of diverse type of dyes from

water and wastewater and reported that acti-

vated/modified clays showing higher adsorption

capacities than raw clays. It was reported that the

nanoclay can be successfully used as filler at low

loadings content that provides good mechanical and

water barrier properties and hence improves the

properties that are likely to be affected by water or

moisture content namely tensile strength, Tg and

flexural properties. Moreover, the mechanical proper-

ties; specifically elastic and flexural modulus of

microfibrillated cellulose were improved after addi-

tion of nanoclays (Gabr et al. 2013).

Kantouch et al. (2013) treated viscose fabrics with

salicylic acid and three of its derivatives to impart to

the mentioned fabrics antimicrobial resistance. The

authors proved that the ability of 5-bromosalicylic

acid has greater efficiency to kill bacteria than the

other compounds.

In this research, the authors focused on studying the

effect of nano kaolin as well as sodium polyacrylate/

NK nanocomposite on the mechanical, physical,

dyeing and antimicrobial properties of the viscose

fabrics. Moreover, statistical analyses were evaluated,

t test and quality assessment, to reach the optimum

conditions which should be used in ready garment

industry.

Experimental

Materials

Plain 100% viscose fabric was supplied by Abou El-

Ola for Spinning and Weaving Co., 10th of Ramadan

City, Egypt. Its weight is 110 g/m2, number of warp is

375/10 cm and number of weft is 320/10 cm.

Nano kaolin was prepared from kaolinite clay with

surface area = 48 m2/g, the average dimension 100,

50, 10 nm obtained from a quarry (Sinai desert, Egypt)

supplied by Middle East Mining Investments Com-

pany (MEMCO), Cairo, Egypt.

Chemicals

Sodium Acrylate polymer was purchased from M.D.

Binder SME (Acrylate-Based). All chemicals used

were of laboratory grade and used without further

purification, distilled water was used for all

preparations.

Dyestuffs

Remazol Yellow GNL highly concentrated, C.I.

Reactive yellow 4, Solophenyl TGL, C. I. Direct

orange 34 with Functional groups of Azo dye.

thiazolidin which is prepared in the Pharmaceutical

and Drug Industries laboratory, based on thiazolo

pyrimidine derivatives Fig. 1.

Method

Scouring of viscose fabrics

Viscose fabrics were scoured using 2 g/l nonionic

detergent (Hocstapal CV from Clariant, Egypt) with a

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Cellulose

liquor ratio 1:25, at 45 �C, for 45 min. Then they were

rinsed twice in cold tap water and dried at room

temperature.

Preparation of the nano-clay (nano kaolin)

The clay material used in this research is kaolinite clay

which is used to prepare nano kaolin (NK). The

chemical structure of NK is (AL2Si2O7.2H2O). Kaolin

was thermally treated at 8000 C for 2 h in automatic

electrical furnace to assure complete decomposition

and to get active amorphous NK. This was carried out

in the Housing and Building National Research at

nanotechnology laboratory (Morsy et al. 2010).

Synthesis of 7-amino-1,2,3,4,5,8-hexahydro-5-(4-

nitrophenyl)-2-oxo-8-(2,4-dioxothiazolidin-3-yl)-4-

thioxopyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine-6-carbonitrile

(Thiazolidin)

A mixture of 2-thioxo-dihydropyrimidine-

4,6(1H,5H)Dione TBA (0.01 mol), 2-(4-cyano-ben-

zylidene) malononitrile (0.01 mol) and (4-aminoan-

tipyrine) (0.01 mol) in acetonitrile 10 ml) in the

presence of nano-SPIA (5 mol%) and DMF–DMA

(1 ml) which was refluxed for 2 h at 100 �C with

stirring then left to cool, filtered off and the solvent

was removed under vacuum. 7-amino-5-(4-cyanophe-

nyl)-hexahydro-8-(2,3-dihydro-1,5-dimethyl-3-oxo-

2-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)-2-oxo-4-thioxopyrido

[2,3-d] pyrimidine derivative was obtained by

recrystallized the residual solid from absolute

ethanol and dried under vacuum.

Characterization of thiazolidin

Some characterizations of thiazolidin were performed

to confirm its structure includig the following

• Yield: 88%.

• m.p. 220–222 �C.• 1H-NMR: (500 MHz, DMSO): 3.9 (2H, s, CH2),

4.2 (1H, s, CH), 6.0 (1H, br s, NH2), 6.20–6.50

(4H, m, Ar–H aromatic proton), 8.00 (1H, br s,

NH), 8.4 (1H, br s, NH),

• 13C NMR (DMSO-d6): 39.50 (CH3), 39.70

(CH3), 111.90, 115.80, 116.90, 119.80, 120.90,

127.00, 130.00, 134.90, 138.80, 138.8, 165.40

(CN), 170.5, 174.60, 176.40 (3C=O).

• FTIR (KBr): (N–H) 3230, 3250, (NH2)3180 cm-1

(C=O) 1690–1720, (C=N) 1640 cm-1, C=S 1370,

H–C–H 2930, CN 2265, CH-aromatic 3155, C=C

1450

• mass spectroscopy 456.7.

Treatment of viscose with NK using sodium

polyacrylate as a resin

10 gm of nanoclay namely; nano kaolin was dispersed

in 100 ml of ethylene chloride (CH2Cl2) using ultra-

sonic homogenizer for 1 h. Different amounts of

dispersed nano kaolin (1, 3, 5% wt/v) were added to

20% sodium polyacrylate, then this mixture was well

homogenized using ultrasound homogenizer 100 W

for 1 h to incorporate the NK into the polymer matrix

and forming polymer/kaolin nano-composite. Scoured

viscose fabrics (20 9 15 cm) were treated with the

prepared composite by pad dry-cure technique. After

treatment; the samples were padded using SVETEMA

laboratory padder; the padding pressure was adjusted

at 3 bar to allow a pickup of 80%. The padded samples

were dried at 80 �C for 5 min and cured at 150 �C for

3 min using ROACHES laboratory thermofixation.

The cured samples were then washed with running

water and left to dry at room temperature. Table 1

shows the description of treated viscose fabrics.

Fig. 1 Structure of new colouring material (Thiazolidin)

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Dyeing process

Untreated as well as treated viscose samples were

dyed with 2% owf of reactive, direct dyes and

thiazolidin.

Dyeing with reactive dye The dyeing bath solution

was prepared by pasting required amount of dyes C.I.

Reactive yellow 4 (Remazol Yellow GNL highly

conc.) with water to give the prescribed shade (2%

owf) and diluted with water to be completely soluble

dye. The dye solution was adjusted to pH 7 using

acetic acid. The dye bath was heated to 60 �C and the

sample was added (viscose fibers) to the dye bath. The

temperature was then raised gradually up to 90 �Cthrough 30 min then added 20 g/l sodium sulphate

after 30 min, and the dyeing continued for 60 min, at

liquor ratio 1:50. The dyed sample was thoroughly

washed in warm followed by cold water and air-dried.

Dyeing with direct dye The dye solution of direct

dyes (Solopneyl orange T4R) was prepared by pasting

1% owf. The dye bath was completed to a liquor ratio

of 1:50. The pH of dyeing bath was adjusted to 8. The

dyeing process was started at 90 �C, then after 20 min

sodium sulfate (10 g/l) was added to the dyeing bath

and dyeing continue for 60 min. The dyed samples

were withdrawn, rinsed with water and air dried.

Dyeing with thiazolidin The thiazolidin was used as

dyes with viscose fabric. Dyeing process was carried

out at 90 �C, shade of 2% owf using L.R 1:50, for

60 min. The pH of dyeing bath was adjusted at 8–9. At

the end of dyeing, the dyed samples were then rinsed

with tap water and air dried.

Characterizations

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

The morphology of the prepared nanoclay powder

namely; nano kaolin was investigated using TEM

(JEOL, JEM-1230 Japan, with an acceleration voltage

of 120 kV). The sample for TEM analysis was

obtained by placing a drop of the colloid dispersion

onto a carbon coated copper grid. The samples were

dried at room temperature and examined using a TEM

without further modification or coating.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Dispersive

X-ray spectroscopy (EDX)

Quanta FEG 250 scanning electron microscopy (FE-

SEM) with 30 kV scanning voltages was employed to

observe the morphologies of untreated and treated

fabrics. Quanta FEG 250 with Oxford Instruments

EDX with INCA software system. EDX measurement

conditions, 20 kV accelerating voltage, 21 mm work-

ing distance, 1 nA sample.

Biological activity

The antibacterial and antifungal activities were carried

out in the Microbial Department, National Research

Centre, by measuring the optical density (OD) at

600 nm. The method can be described as follows: The

bacterial cultures maintained on nutrient agar slants

were aseptically inoculated into 5 ml of sterile nutrient

broth. The samples were thoroughly shacked and then

incubated at 37 �C for 24 h. This was designated as the

working stock that was used for antibacterial studies.

5 ml of nutrient broth medium was taken in different

Table 1 Treated viscose

fabrics descriptionSample no Specification

B Untreated

1 Treated with 20% sodium polyacrylate resin

2 Treated with 1% NK

3 Treated with 3% NK

4 Treated with 5% NK

5 Treated with treatment solution (20% resin containing 1% NK)

6 Treated with treatment solution (20% resin containing 3% NK)

7 Treated with treatment solution (20% resin containing 5% NK)

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Cellulose

test tubes and autoclaved. Each tube was inoculated

with 100 lL of bacterial suspension and a disc of the

tested specimen then incubated at 37 �C for 24 h. The

growth of the selected bacteria was detected by optical

density (OD) at 600 nm. The antimicrobial activity of

the tested compounds was examined with gram

positive bacteria, Bacillus cereus, staphylococcus

aureus ATCC 6538, and gram-negative bacteria

Escherichia coli NRRN 3008, pseudomonas aerugi-

nose ATCC 10145 and fungus Candida albicans

EMCC105. The obtained results are compared with

the reference antibiotic Cephradine that was pur-

chased from Egyptian markets.

Measurements

Bending stiffness of fabrics measured according to

(ASTM-D 1388-96) Shirey stiffness tester.

Thickness (mm) measured by SDL thickness meter

according (ASTM-D1777).

Moisture Regain measured according (ASTM-

D2654).

Tensile strength measured according to (ASTM-D

3822) Instron.

Color strength (intensity): Spectral reflectance

measurements of the dyed samples were measured

using UV/Vis spectrophotometer (Hunter lab, Ultra

Scan Pro, USA). The color values expressed as K/S

values of the dyed samples were determined by

applying Kubelka–Munk Eq. 1(Judd and Wyszecki

1975):

K/S ¼ 1� Rð Þ2

2R� 1� R0ð Þ2

2R0

ð1Þ

where R is the decimal fraction of the reflectance of

the dyed substrate, R0 is the decimal fraction of the

reflectance of the undyed substrate, S is the

scattering.

Washing fastness The colorfastness to washing was

determined according to the AATCC test method

[AATCC Technical Manual, Method 36, (1972),

68, 23, (1993)] using Launder Ometer (AATCC

Technical Manual 1993).

Results and discussions

Viscose fabrics were treated with different concentra-

tions of prepared NK in presence and absence of 20%

sodium polyacrylate. The effect of this treatment on

viscose fabrics properties will be discussed below.

Characterization of the prepared NK

Preparation of NK was carried out at the Housing and

Building National Research at Nanotechnology labo-

ratory. The physical properties and the chemical

compositions of the prepared nano kaolin are illus-

trated in Tables 2 and 3 respectively.

Topographical study (TEM)

Figure 2 show the Transmission Electron Micro-

graphs (TEM) of NK powder prepared from kaolinite

clay. This figure implies that the size of the obtained

nano kaolin powder is within the nano range

(17–58 nm). The surface area of the used NK,

therefore, will be extremely high and ensures its better

dispersion within the composite prepared thereof.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and disperse

X-ray spectroscopy (EDX)

Morphological structure of untreated as well as treated

viscose fabrics were investigated using scanning

electron microscopy. Figure 3a, b show the clean

and smooth longitudinal fibril structure surface of the

untreated sample.

Figure 3c, d showed the surface of the sample

treated with 20% sodium polyacrylate only which

exhibiting that the surface is covered by a thin layer of

the polyacrylate polymer. More investigation of

Table 2 Physical properties of NK

Description Results

Mean particle size (nm) 100, 50, 10 nm

Surface area (m2/g) 48

Bulk density (kg/m2) 190

Colour Light cream

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Cellulose

Fig. 3d elucidated also that the interfacial fibre

filament are filled with the said polymer.

Figure 3e, f show the topographical character of the

sample treated with 5% nano-kaolin. It is obviously

that a sufficient amount of NK is deposited on the

fabric surface with a physically interaction between

the NK and the fabric filaments. The morphological

changes of fabrics surface modified with a mixture of

sodium polyacrylate polymer and 5% nano-kaolin

(treatment solution) is representative in Fig. 3g, h

which show a deposition of the treatment solution on

the fibre surface as well as filled the interfacial fibre

filaments.

Surface chemical elements of the treated fabrics

were assessed by EDAX spectroscopy. Figure 4

shows EDX spectra for treated and untreated viscose

fabric. It is clear that the spectra of blank sample

(Fig. 4a, b) has no appeared peaks of elements which

is an expected result.

The peak appeared during the investigation of

sample treated with 5% nano kaolin (Fig. 4c) indicat-

ing the presence of Silicon and Aluminum elements of

1.9 and 1.8% respectively.

Figure 4d shows the spectra of sample treated with

mixture of sodium polyacrylate polymer and 5% nano-

kaolin which are attributed to Si, Al and Na of 2.16, 2.7

and 0.5% respectively.

SEM and EDAX results indicated the presence of

NK in the treated viscose samples.

Mechanical properties of the treated viscose

fabrics

Tensile strength and Elongation percentage of treated

and untreated viscose fabrics

Data of Table 4 illustrated the tensile strength and

elongation percentage of the treated samples as well as

the untreated one. The results clarify that as the

concentration of polyacrylate and NK material

increases the tensile strength of the treated fabrics

increases. Samples treated with different concentra-

tions of NK only; exhibited an increase in tensile

strength of about 19%. This result may be attributed to

the increasing of the interfacial adhesion between the

NK and the fabric filaments after the treatment due to

the dispersion of NK throughout the viscose fabrics

(Paluvai et al. 2016; Sim and Han 2013). Data of

Table 4 revealed also that viscose fabrics treated with

sodium polyacrylate and polyacylate/NK nanocom-

posite exhibited an increase in tensile strength of about

40%. This result may be referred to the thin layer

formed on the viscose fabric surface after the

treatment of the fabrics with polyacrylate polymer.

This result was confirmed by SEM micrograph Fig. 3.

Moisture regain measurement

Figure 5 revealed the moisture regain of treated

viscose fabric as well as untreated one. It was found

that the moisture regain was decrease as the polyacry-

late and NK concentrations increase which can be

Fig. 2 TEM micrograph of NK

Table 3 Chemical composition of nano kaolin

Component NK

Silicon (SiO2) 51.61

Aluminum (Al2O3) 45.07

Iron (Fe2O3) 0.27

Manganese (Mn2 O3) 0.00

Calcium oxide (CaO) 0.60

Magnesium oxide (MgO) 0.04

Phosphorous (P2O3) 0.15

Potassium (K2O) 0.02

Sodium (Na2O) 0.01

Titanium (TiO2) 1.35

Sculpture (SO3) 0.24

Loss on Ignition 0.35

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Cellulose

Fig. 3 Scanning electron microscopy untreated and untreated

viscose fabrics. a, b Untreated viscose fabric, c, d sodium

polyacrylate treated viscose fabric, e, f 5% nano kaolin treated

viscose fabric, g, h viscose fabric treated with mixture of 5%

nano kaolin and sodium polyacrylate polymer

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Cellulose

credited to the coated layer formed on the treated

viscose fabric surface as a result of polyacrylate

application. Furthermore, data of this table elucidate

that the samples treated with different concentrations

Fig. 4 a EDAX of untreated sample. bViscose fabric treated with 20% sodium polyacrylate polymer. cViscose fabric treated 5% nano

kaolin. d Viscose fabric treated with mixture of 20% sodium polyacrylate polymer and 5% nano kaolin

Table 4 Tensile strength

and Elongation of treated

and untreated viscose

fabrics

Sample no maximum load (tensile strength) (kgf) Strain at maximum load (Elongation) (%)

1 21.92 10.85

2 33.43 7.57

3 25.29 9.71

4 25.47 9.43

5 25.67 9.29

6 31.18 7.54

7 32.27 7.17

8 33.17 7.11

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Cellulose

of NK had moisture regain less than that of the

untreated sample and higher than that of the fabrics

treated with the prepared Resin/NK nano composite,

this can be attributed to the NK particles which

significantly reduced the moisture regain due to the

proper adhesion with the fabric filaments which acts as

a barrier in the form of torturous paths of clay (Nozari

et al. 2013; Sim and Han 2013).

Colour strength and washing fastness

of the thiazolidin

Results of Table 5 elucidated that the colour strength

of the treated viscose fabrics with resin polymer is

higher than that compared to the untreated one.

Moreover, as the nano kaolin concentration increases

the K/S values increase, this may be referred to the

ionic interaction between the lone pair of electrons of

amino and sulphur groups of the thiazolidin and the

cations element in the NK. Also, it was found that the

fabrics treated with sodium polyacrylate/NK nano

composite enhancing the colour strength values. This

result could be due to besides the ionic interaction

between the nanocalay and the thiazolidin, sodium

polyacrylate absorb great amount of dye solution.

The washing fastness results show that the thiazo-

lidin has bad fastness as well as bad staining for

untreated fabrics. While, slight improvement observed

after the treatment.

Colour strength and washing fastness with direct

and reactive dyes

Table 6 illustrated the colour strength of the untreated

as well as treated viscose samples. In respective of the

type of dye it can be concluded that the K/S values of

the viscose fabrics treated with sodium acrylate

7

7.5

8

8.5

9

9.5

10

Moi

stur

e re

gain

(%)

Fig. 5 Moisture regain of

the viscose fabrics before

and after the treatment

Table 5 Colour strength and washing fastness of untreated

and treated viscose fabrics dyed with the new coloring material

Samples K/S value of new material Washing fastness

Alt StC

B 5.52 2–3 3–4

1 6.21 3 3–4

2 6.93 3 2–3

3 7.12 3 3–4

4 7.41 3 3–4

5 8.25 4 4

6 8.41 4 4

7 8.94 4 4

Alt., alteration; Stc, staining of cotton fabrics

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Cellulose

polymer are higher than that of the untreated one. The

K/S values of the treated fabrics are increased with

about 45 and 30% for direct dye and reactive dye

respectively. This result could be explained based on

the nature of sodium polyacrylat which has tremen-

dous capacity to retain enormous amount of its mass of

water and subsequently dyes solution, i.e. physical

entrapping of dye (Agarwal 2010).

Data of Table 6 revealed also that the sample

treated with 5% NK only and dyed with direct dye,

result in higher K/S value where its value enhanced to

4.26 which is doubled value compared to the untreated

fabric. In case of reactive dye, 5% NK treated sample

exhibited greater value of K/S than samples treated

with 1 and 3% NK which are 3.49 and 3.66

respectively.

In conclusion, the colour strength values of treated

samples dyed either with direct or reactive dye show

that the K/S values of the fabrics treated with NK are

higher than that of the untreated one with around

50–60%, which can be alluded to the very strong

sorption ability of NK due to its high surface area and

strong vander waals force with dyes (Yang et al.

2005). Furthermore, treatment of the viscose fabrics

with resin/NK nanocomosite reduces the K/S values

compared to that of the treated fabrics with NK only.

This is due to polyacrylate is an anionic polyelec-

trolyte with negatively charged carboxylic groups in

the main polymer chain which leads to the incorpo-

ration of small amount of NK in the polymer matrix.

Polymer/NK nanocomposites involve the interaction

of polymer matrix with the nanoplates of clay which

are formed by the dispersion of low weight percent-

ages of NK into polymers (Sokmen and onder Aktas

2013).

Data of Table 6 also clarify that the washing

fastness of the reactive dye is slightly better than that

of the direct one which may be attributed to the

chemically strong covalent bonds formed between the

reactive dye and the viscose fabrics subjected to the

dyeing process, while direct dye binds with the fabrics

with physical wander walls force.

Bending length and thickness

The results of bending length and thickness of the

treated fabrics as well as untreated one are tabulated in

Table 7. It was found that the bending length of the

fabric treated with sodium polyacrylate is higher than

that the untreated one and that treated with NK only.

This can be referred to the coating layer formed on the

surface of the treated fabrics due to the application of

resin polymer. SEM micrograph shows the coating

layer covered the viscose fabrics Fig. 3c, d.

Antimicrobial activity

The obtained results in Table 8 clearly showed that

some pathogens extensively affected and inhibited by

the tested viscose fabrics specimens. These pathogens

include the gram positive bacterium Bacillus cereus

and the yeast pathogen Candida albicans. The most

active specimen against Bacillus cereuswas specimen

number 6 (viscose fabrics treated with 3% NK/sodium

polyacrylate and dyed with thiazolidin) followed by

specimen number 5 (viscose fabrics treated with1%

NK/risen and dyed with thiazolidin). In the meantime,

specimen number 6 (viscose fabrics treated with nano

clay and dyed with thiazolidin) was the highest

inhibitory one against Candida albicans. Gram neg-

ative bacteria E. coli was moderately inhibited by

almost all specimens, also Pseudomonas aeruginosa,

was resistant to all treatments. In addition, the growth

of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus was inhibited

by specimens 2 and 6. Finally, it is worth to notice that

all results are highly applicable and this outcome can

be referred to the thiazolidin used in the dyeing

process is a heterocyclic compound which has a highly

antimicrobial resistance (Grayer and Harborne 1994;

Irobi et al. 1996).

Table 6 Colour strength and washing fastness with direct and

reactive dyes of untreated and treated viscose fabrics

Sample Direct dye Reactive dyes

K/S Washing fastness K/S Washing fastness

Alt StC Alt StC

B 2.13 4 3–4 4.17 3–4 4

1 3.09 4 4 5.47 4 4–5

2 3.49 4 4 6.09 4 4–5

3 3.96 4 4 6.12 4 4–5

4 4.26 4–5 4 6.52 4 4

5 3.99 4 4–5 5.09 4 4–5

6 3.23 4 4–5 5.59 4–5 4–5

7 3.11 4–5 4–5 5.97 4 4–5

Alt., alteration; Stc, staining of cotton fabrics

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Cellulose

Statistical analyses

t Test

t Test is used to compare the results of K/S and

Washing fastness for both direct and reactive dyes,

t test has been performed as per the as shown in

Table 9.

From the t test (Table 9) it was found that, there is a

significant difference between the color strength of

fabric with direct and reactive dyes as there mean

values are 3.41 and 5.63 resp. as the

(p value = 3.04E-06). Also there is a significant

difference between theWashing fastness (alt) of fabric

with direct dye and reactive as there mean values are

4.19 and 4.0 resp. as the (p value = 3.98E-02) and

there is a significant difference between the Washing

fastness (St) of fabric with direct dye and reactive as

there mean values are 4.13 and 4.38 resp. as the

(p value = 3.98E-02). This means that both K/S and

Washing fastness (St) are better with the reactive dye,

while the Washing fastness (alt) is better with the

direct dye.

Table 7 Bending length

and thickness of untreated

and treated viscose fabrics

Sample Bending length (cm) Mean bending length (cm) Thickness

B 1.5, 2, 1.1 1.4 1.5 0.32

1 2.9, 3, 3.2, 3.3 3.1 0.44

2 1.8, 2, 1.8, 1.8 1.7 0.34

3 1.9, 1.8,1.7, 1.8 1.8 0.35

4 1.8, 1.7, 1.7, 1.8 1.9 0.36

5 3, 3, 3, 2.5 2.7 0.43

6 3, 3.1, 3.3, 3.1 2.9 0.47

7 2.8,2.8, 3, 2.9 3.13 0.45

Table 8 Optical density of untreated and treated viscose fabrics with resin/NK nano composite dyed with thiazolidin

Microorganism Gram stain reaction Optical density(OD 600 nm)

Specimen no Control

B 1 5 6 7 8

Bacillus cereus Positive 0.42 0.18 0.29 0.32 0.13 0.19 0.88

Staphylococcus aureus Positive 1.1 0.9 0.94 1.2 1.2 1.0 1.3

Escherichia coli Negative 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.35

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Negative 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.0 1.2 0.93

Candida albicans Yeast 0.43 0.51 0.38 0.47 0.45 0.49 0.70

B, untreated and undyed with thiazolidin; 1, fabric treated with sodium polyacrylate (risen) and dyed with thiazolidin; 5, fabric

treated with 1% NK/resin and dyed with thiazolidin; 6, fabric treated with 3% nano NK/sodium polyacrylate and dyed with

thiazolidin; 7, fabric treated with 5% nano NK/sodium polyacrylate and dyed with thiazolidin; 8, untreated Dyed with thiazolidin

only; Control, Solution only

Table 9 t Test for the comparison of colour strength and

washing fastness between direct and reactive dyes

Property Parameter Direct dye Reactive dye

K/S Mean 3.41 5.63

Variance 0.462 0.544

t stat - 12.08

p value 3.04E-06

Washing fastness alt Mean 4.19 4.00

Variance 0.067 0.071

t stat 2.05

p value 3.98E-02

Washing fastness st Mean 4.13 4.38

Variance 0.125 0.054

t stat - 12.08

p value 3.04E-06

123

Cellulose

These results indicates that the use of reactive dye

as a colouring material with this treatment would give

a durable colorimetric performance for these fabrics to

be apparel.

Quality assessment of treated fabrics

Assessment of the colorimetric results

Data of Table 10 illustrated that, for the direct dye,:

sample of 5% NK has better colourimetric result with

QF of 84.7%.

For reactive dye: sample of 20% resin containing

5% NK has better colourimetric result with QF of

97.2%.

Assessment of the antimicrobial results dyed

with thiazolidin

From the data of Table 11, it can be concluded that, for

the direct dye: sample of 5% NK has better Antimi-

crobial result with 5% NK/sodium polyacrylate and

QF of 33.1%.

From Tables 10 and 11 it was concluded that the

recipe of 5% NK/sodium polyacrylate would give

better functional performance when using these fab-

rics in clothing.

Conclusions

Nano kaolin was prepared from kaolinite clay with

surface area = 48 m2/g. TEM reveals the size of the

obtained NK powder ranged from 17 nm to 58 nm.

Viscose fabrics were treated with the sodium

polyacrylate/kaolin nanocompsite prepared by addi-

tion of different amounts of nano kaolin (1, 2 and 5%

wt/v) to 20% sodium polyacrylate as a resin. SEM and

EDX of the treated as well as untreated viscose fabrics

proved the incorporation of nano composite between

the fabric filaments. The results showed considerable

improvement of mechanical properties; specifically in

tensile strength which increased up to 60%. The results

of colorimetric data (K/S and wash fastness) of the

treated fabrics dyed with new coloured material

(thiazolidin), reactive and direct dyes reveal the highly

enhancement of the colour strength of the said fabrics

up to 63, 30, and 45% respectively. These results

referred to the nature of sodium polyacrylate which

has a great ability to absorb water from the surround-

ing medium.

Results of K/S obtained by t test showed a

significant difference of about 40%, so that there are

preference to use reactive dyes with these treated

fabrics. Moreover, the wash fastness (staining) was

moderately improved of about 6% for reactive dye.

Table 10 Assessment of the colourimetric results

Dye type Sample K/S

(%)

Washing fastness Alt

(%)

Washing fastness StC

(%)

Quality factor

(%)

Direct dye 20% sodium acrylate resin

only

47.4 88.9 88.9 75.1

1% NK 53.5 88.9 88.9 77.1

3% NK 60.7 88.9 88.9 79.5

5% NK 65.3 100.0 88.9 84.7

20% resin containing 1% NK 61.2 88.9 88.9 79.7

20% resin containing 3% NK 49.5 100.0 100.0 83.2

20% resin containing 5% NK 47.7 100.0 88.9 78.9

Reactive

dyes

20% sodium acrylate resin

only

83.9 88.9 100.0 90.9

1% NK 93.4 88.9 100.0 94.1

3% NK 93.9 88.9 100.0 94.3

5% NK 100.0 88.9 88.9 92.6

20% resin containing 1% NK 78.1 100.0 100.0 92.7

20% resin containing 3% NK 85.7 100.0 100.0 95.2

20% resin containing 5%NK 91.6 100.0 100.0 97.2

123

Cellulose

Besides the coloration of the viscose fabrics,

thiazolidins has an antimicrobial resistance to differ-

ent species of bacteria and fungi. The coloured fabrics

exhibited acceptable antimicrobial action against

E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as gram -ve

bacteria, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus

as gram ?ve bacteris and the yeast pathogen Candida

albicans compared to the uncoloured one.

The results of quality assessment prove that the

viscose fabrics treated with 5% NK/sodium polyacry-

late nano-composite and dyed with reactive dye is the

best functional performance could be used in clothing

industry.

Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge

and express their gratitude to In-house Project Office at National

Research Centre of Egypt to fund this research and facilitate all

the capabilities to finish this work.

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Sample

#

Bacillus

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Escherichia

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Pseudomonas

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Staphylococcus

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Candida

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2 72.2 11.8 11.8 14.4 25.5 27.2

6 44.8 11.8 10.8 13.8 34.2 23.1

7 40.6 13.0 11.8 10.8 27.7 20.8

8 100.0 13.0 13.0 10.8 28.9 33.1

9 68.4 11.8 10.8 13.0 26.5 26.1

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123

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