Physical and Mechanical Properties of Egyptian Cotton Knitted Fabrics Finished with Different Silicone Particles

The objective of the textile finishing is to develop the suitability and serviceability of the garment and to follow the ever-changing requirements of the fashion market. For improving softness and handle of cotton fabric, silicone treatment softeners are used. Silicone softeners improve fabric feel, softness, drap, and absorbency to a higher extent. In this comprehensive research, the effect of applying different silicone softeners on some physical and mechanical properties of single jersey knitted fabrics was assessed. Consequently, commercially available silicone softeners with four various particle sizes (macro, semi-micro, micro, nano) were applied on fabrics produced from different 100% cotton Giza 86 yarn types (ring spun, ring spun singed, ring spun singed mercerized and compact). The impact of using different silicone softeners on fabric pilling performance, bursting strength, seam hole, flexural rigidity, handle force, air permeability, water vapor permeability, wettability, immersion time, dimensional stability, Spirality, color strength, fastness to dry rubbing, fastness to wet rubbing and fastness to washing were studied. Results have shown that the pilling resistance of fabrics treated with nano silicone is more than micro followed by semi-micro and then macro silicone. The nano silicone penetrates to the inner of the fabric surface and spreads homogeneously inside the cotton yarn. The fabric produced from the ring spun singed mercerized yarn has maximum pilling grade. The average bursting strength loss due to silicone treatment was high for of macro softener-treated fabrics and low in case of nano softener-treated fabrics. Among all treated samples, the compact yarn has the best color fastness to rubbing, color fastness “staining” and color change after washing because of its packed structure, while fabrics produced from ring spun mercerized cotton, has the worst color fastness and color change.