Abstract
Hydrophilicities of finished cotton fabrics were evaluated in respect of moisture regain and wickability. Changes in internal structure were determined using X-ray diffraction and surface changes in degraded samples were observed through a microscopy. Activated sludge test, soil burial test and enzyme hydrolysis were employed to evaluate the biodegradabilities. In addition, correlation analysis was done between biodegradability and the factors affecting biodegradability in each evalution methods. It was shown that hydrophilicities of silicone finished specimens were lower than that of untreated cotton and decreased in a row of PDMS(polydimethyl siloxane : -CH$_3$)＞AFS(amino functional siloxane ; -C$_3$H$_{6}$ NHC$_2$H$_4$NH$_2$)＞MHPS(methylhydrogen polysiloxane : -H, Cat : (C$_{17}$ H$_{35}$ COO)$_2$Zn) Although, moisture regain of mercerized cotton was higher than those of the others, wickability was shown to be lower. It was represented that crystalinities of cotton fabrics decreased by the silicone treatment. In activated sludge test and soil burial test, biodegradabilities of silicone treated specimens were lower than that of untreated cotton, where specimens of higher biodegradability exhibited higher biodegradability except mercerized ones. The results from enzyme hydrolysis, however, showed somewhat different tendency in that biodegradability was more closely related with the crystallinities of fabrics. It can be thought that enzyme hydrolysis is carried out for short time, physical accessibility becomes important.
