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PLASMA TECHNOLOGY IN TEXTILE PROCESSING

Bengi KUTLU and Dr. Aysun CIRELI

Dokuz Eylul University, Textile Engineering Department35100, Bornova-IZMIR

Phone: + 90 232 388 28 69

Fax: + 90 232 388 78 67

bengi.kutlu@deu.edu.tr

Plasma is a quite new technology for the textile industry. It offers many advantages against

wet techniques. There are no harmful chemicals, wet processes, wastewater, and mechanical

hazards to textiles, etc. Plasma technology is an environmentally friendly and ecological

technique. In addition to these, it has a specific action on the surface and gives surface some

properties that cannot be obtained by conventional techniques. In plasma treatment, also all

type of fibers and textiles can be treated.

One of the definitions of plasma is that plasma is a partially ionized gas. On the other hand, it

has no electrical load totally. Components forming plasma are neutral atoms and molecules,

ions, photons, atoms which are excited state and free electrons. Plasma properties which

affect textile surfaces are electrons with high energy. In contrary to hot plasmas occur in sun;

other plasmas work at room temperatures. Because, plasma energy in cold plasmas is limited

by energies of electrons with low mass. There are different ways to produce plasma: Glow-

Discharge, Corona Discharge and Dielectric Barrier Discharge. Air, oxygen, argon, fluorine,

helium, carbon dioxide or their mixtures can be used as plasma medium. The process result is

affected by the type of the gas used. Although the gas the same, if the fiber type is different

the result will be different. Textiles can be treated between two electrodes (in fact in the

plasma) or near the plasma region. In the figure (Yousefi et al.), there are a schematic view of

plasma device and different reactive species.

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Plasma process changes an almost inert surface into a reactive one. In the prospect of

chemical finishing using plasma, two main methods can be considered: grafting of a

compound on the fiber or surface modification by means of discharges. Although plasma

treatments occur at the surface, a small part of the fiber mass, fiber-polymer surface

characteristics have an important role in the mechanical and chemical processing of fibers,

yarns and fabrics.

For any fiber type, a plasma treatment changes one or more of the following qualities; water

absorption and wetting, adhesion, dyeing and dye fastness, shade depth of dyed fabrics,

antistaticity desizing, water and oil repellence, soil release, wear and chemical resistance,

biocompatibility of the synthetic material with blood etc.

Plasma processes can be applied natural and synthetic fibers: It makes wool descaled, soft,

antifelt. The dyeing kinetics of wool improves. Cellulose fibers become more hydrophilic and

reactive. Dyeing behaviors of fibers change. The fiber matrixes of synthetic fibers are

changed and the layers closed to diffusion are opened by plasma treatments. It is possible to

list large amount of properties gained by plasma processes.

If the disadvantages of plasma treatments, such as the high cost of the plasma device, can be

eliminated, this technology will be valid and very important method for the textile finishing

industry.

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REFERENCES

Choi, H.H., Lee, S.G. & Joo, C.W. (2001). Effect of Plasma Treatment on the Characteristics

of Polypropylene Spunbond (PP/SB) Nonwoven, The 6th Asian Textile Conference,

Innovation & Globalization, Procedings, August 22-24, 2001, Hong Kong

Dai, X.J.& Kviz, L. (2001). Study of Atmospheric and Low Pressure Plasma Modification on

the Surface Properties of Synthetic and Natural Fibres, An Odyssey in Fibres and

Space Textile Institute 81stWorld Conference, April 2001,Melbourne, Australia

Kan, C.W., Chan, K. & Yuen, C.W.M. (2001). Development of Low Temperature Plasma

Technology on Wool, The 6th Asian Textile Conference, Innovation & Globalization,

Procedings, August 22-24, 2001, Hong Kong

Karadeniz, S., (1989) Plazma Teknii. Ders Notlar, zmir

Kim, M.S. & Kang, T.J. (2002). Dimensional and Surface Properties of Plasma and Silicone

Treated Wool Fabric. Textile Research Journal 72(2), 113-120

McCord, M.G., Hwang, Y.J., Hauser, P.J., Qu, Y., Cuomo, J.J., Hankins, O.E. & Bourham,

M.A. (2002). Modifying Nylon and Polypropylene Fabrics with Atmospheric Pressure

Plasmas. Textile Research Journal 72(6), 491-498

Pastore, C. M. & Kiekens, P. (2001). Surface Characteristics of Fibers and Textiles.

Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York

Yousefi, H.R. et al. (2003) Investigation of glow discharge plasma for surface modificationof polypropylene. Surface and Interface Analysis, 2003; 35: 1015-1017.

Verschuren, J. & Kiekens, P. (2001). Plasma Technology for Textiles: Where Are We?,

International Textile and Apparel Symposium,April 2001, eme-Izmir, Turkey.