VALUE ADDITION ON COTTON FABRIC USING PLASMA TREATEMENT AND PIGMENT PRINTING

Cotton is the king of textile industry. It is the most trendy, versatile, and eco- friendly fabric. This material is most desired fabric by the consumers. It has many good properties as it has good heat conductivity, absorption, strength, etc. it is used in vast gamut of products like apparel, home- furnishing, industries, medical, auto mobiles, etc. it can be blended with other natural as well as synthetic fibers like wool, silk, polyester, acrylic, nylon and many more. In today’s world there are various new technologies coming up every day, one of which is plasma technology which is slowly capturing the textile industries. Many researches are done and still continuing on plasma technology. In this study the researcher has tried to apply plasma treatment on to the cotton fabric to modify the surface property of the same. This di- electric plasma treatment was given on varying time period like 15min, 30min, 45min, 1hr, 1 1/2hr and 2hr. After plasma treatment the samples were undergone for pigment printing with water base and without water base printing paste. The same printing was also done on unmodified cotton sample to have a comparison between modified and unmodified samples. The results were compared on the basis of few tests like rub fastness (dry and wet), wash fastness and UV protection test. In this research it has been observed that plasma treated i.e., modified samples were having better fastness to dry and wet rub and wash fastness and UV protection of treated fabric after printing was increased. This study also shows that even 15min and 30min of treatment improves the fastness property of the cotton fabric so in concern of energy usage, treatment can be given for less time duration to have better quality products. UV protection of the fabric can be increased by printing with without water-based pigment printing with 1hr of plasma treatment which on the basis of the results said to be the optimum time of treatment.