Effect of Titanium Dioxide Treatment on the Properties of 100% Cotton Knitted Fabric

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a white, water insoluble pigment. It is used in paints, plastics, foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Its main application on textile materials as an ultraviolet ray protecting agents. Titanium dioxide can reflect, scatter or absorb ultraviolet ray. Besides Titanium dioxide also modify the properties of fabrics. In previous research, titanium dioxide was applied mainly by padding mangle method. This paper presents an approach to observe the effect of titanium dioxide treatment 100% cotton knitted (plain jersey) fabric applied by exhaustion method followed by curing and washing. The treated fabrics were then analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and the tensile strength, pH value and absorbency of the treated and untreated fabrics were checked. It is found that titanium dioxide impairs the better hand feel and absorbency (wetting time) of all treated fabrics increased gradually than untreated fabrics. The treatment increases the strength and keeps the pH of the fabric in acidic medium.