New catalyst system for easy‐care cotton finishing

A new catalyst system, based on a mixture of boron trifluoride–acetic acid complex (BF3·2CH3COOH) and magnesium chloride hexahydrate (MgCl2·6H2O), has been examined in cotton finishing treatment for producing easy‐care properties. It provides strong catalysis in crosslinking cotton with a series of N‐methylol finishing agents when the pad‐dry‐cure process is applied. Curing can be carried out at a temperature of 130–150°C for a period of 1–3 min, dependent on the temperature used. The resilience and abrasion resistance properties as well as the degree of polymerization (D.P.) of the crosslinked cotton so obtained were equivalent or slightly better than those of crosslinked cottons catalyzed by conventional catalysts. The influence of the new catalyst as well as a number of conventional catalysts, viz., ammonium chloride, ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, magnesium chloride hexahydrate, and zinc nitrate hexahydrate, on some properties of cotton fabrics was also investigated. The behavior of these catalysts in the presence of the N‐methylol finishing agent was quite different from their behavior in its absence. With the exception of ammonium salts, the D.P. of crosslinked cotton was much higher than that of cotton treated with the catalyst only. The opposite holds true for the abrasion resistance.