Permanent Water Repellent Chemical Modification of Cotton Fabric with Reagents Containing Aromatic Rings

In this work, reagents with different amounts of aromatic rings were reacted with hydroxyl groups of cotton, aiming for washing stability and water repellency of treated cotton fabric. Different conditions of chemical transformation were considered, including the influence of carbonyl and ester chemical bonds, the quantity of aromatic ring in the reagent, and the properties of obtained cotton fabric. High contact angles were reached with the maximum of 140 o obtained at the usage of chlorotriphenylsilane. Six reagents used for cotton treatment have shown excellent washing stability, and their contact angles expressed the high water repellency of the fabric even after 10 washing cycles. Although mechanical properties of treated fabric were dropped for some samples due to the reduction of hydrogen bonds amount, stiffness of fabric decreased by up to 40 % which means softer fabric. The cotton fabric treated with reagent containing two aromatic rings exhibited the best properties of washing stability and water repellency.