The United States of America As Represented by the Secretary of

Clark M Welch

Bethlehem K Andrews

Tyrone L Vigo

Gary F Danna

Darrell J Donaldson

Cletus E Morris

Nancy M Morris

Catalysts for the rapid esterification and crosslinking of fibrous cellulose in textile form by polycarboxylic acids at elevated temperatures are disclosed. The catalysts are acidic or weakly basic salts selected from the alkali metal dihydrogen phosphates and alkali metal salts of phosphorous, hypophosphorous, and polyphosphoric acids. Suitable polycarboxylic acids include saturated, unsaturated and aromatic acids, as well as alpha-hydroxy acids. The textiles so treated exhibit high levels of wrinkle resistance and smooth drying properties durable to repeated laundering in alkaline detergents, and do not contain or release formaldehyde. Textiles treated by the polycarboxylic acids and alkali metal phosphite or hypophosphite catalysts, and having residues of these catalysts present, may be identified by infrared spectroscopy and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis, because these textiles exhibit the presence in infrared spectra of the phosphorus-hydrogen bond and the ester groups of cellulose crosslinked with the polycarboxylic acids, and the presence of trivalent phosphorus in spectra from electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis.

Catalysts and processes for formaldehyde-free durable press finishing of

Catalysts for the rapid esterification and crosslinking of fibrous cellulose in textile form by polycarboxylic acids at elevated temperatures are disclosed. The catalysts are acidic or weakly basic salts selected from the alkali metal dihydrogen phosphates and alkali metal salts of phosphorous, hypophosphorous, and polyphosphoric acids. Suitable polycarboxylic acids include saturated, unsaturated and aromatic acids, as well as alpha-hydroxy acids. The textiles so treated exhibit high levels of wrinkle resistance and smooth drying properties durable to repeated laundering in alkaline detergents, and do not contain or release formaldehyde.

The use of 4,4'-azobis(4-cyanovaleric acid) and its salts as water-soluble free radical initiators, and simultaneously or alternatively the addition of catalytic amounts of tetrakis(hydroxymethyl)phosphonium sulfate as a polymerization accelerator, in the sequential polymerization and acid-catalyzed grafting of N-methylolacrylamide on cotton textiles from a single treating bath in a padding and two-stage heat curing operation, is disclosed. The cotton textiles as treated are free from discoloration and excessive tendering produced by peroxide-type initiators, and these textiles exhibit increased smooth drying performance, abrasion resistance and strength relative to textiles treated conventionally with dimethyloldihydroxyethyleneurea to comparable wrinkle recovery angles.

Abrasion-resistant durable-press acrylic finishes for cotton textiles by

The use of glycols as coreactive additives with glyoxal in the aluminum sulfate-catalyzed crosslinking of cotton cellulose in the presence of alpha-hydroxy acids as catalyst activators at moderate curing temperatures is disclosed. The cotton textiles so treated are free from the discoloration and excessive tendering produced by glyoxal in the presence of metal salt catalysts at high temperature, are non-nitrogenous and formaldehyde-free, and exhibit high levels of wrinkle resistance and smooth drying properties without the formaldehyde release characteristic of N-methylolamide finishing agents.

Mild-cure formaldehyde-free durable-press finishing of cotton textiles

A process by which 1-hydroxy-2-pyridinethione (pyrithione) can be deposited in cellulosic textiles in a water-insoluble form is disclosed. A polyamine is used to keep a zinc complex of pyrithione in aqueous solution prior to and during its application to textiles; when the solution also contains urea, heating fabric impregnated with the solution converts the pyrithione complex to an insoluble material. Fabric treated by the process has high bacteriostatic and fungistatic activity, and retains antimicrobial properties after repeated laundering.

Zinc pyrithione process to impart antimicrobial properties to textiles

The preparation of bacteriostatic, water-insoluble peroxide-containing complexes of zinc acetate, by reaction of zinc acetate with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of acetic acid, is disclosed. A process for in situ formation and deposition of these complexes on cellulosic and polyester textiles is described. The textile finishes so produced inhibit the growth and spreading of odor- and infection-producing gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria on the treated textiles. The antibacterial activity of the finished textiles is durable to repeated launderings.

Antibacterial textile finishes utilizing zinc acetate and hydrogen

Bacteriostatic, water-insoluble complexes of zirconyl acetate with inorganic peroxides are disclosed. Peroxides operative in forming these complexes are hydrogen peroxide, alkali metal perborates and alkali metal peroxydiphosphates. Processes for in situ formation and deposition of the insoluble complexes on the surfaces of cellulosic textiles are described. The textile finishes so produced inhibit the growth and spreading of odor- and infection-producing gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria on the treated textiles. The antibacterial activity imparted to the textiles is durable to repeated laundering.

Growing community of inventors

Metairie, LA, United States of America

Clark M Welch