Effect of neutralizers and silicone softeners on phenolic yellowing phenomenon of OBA treated cotton knitted fabric

Phenolic yellowing is a complex physicochemical phenomenon of cotton, especially for white and pastel-colored fabrics. This study tried to analyze the effect of neutralizers and silicone softeners on this. Three types of neutralizers of different chemical characteristics (acetic acid, citric acid, and commercial complex acid) were used to achieve core neutralization whereas two unlike ionic nature of silicone softeners (cationic & non-ionic) for the finishing process used. The acetic acid and nonionic softener treated fabric gives the maximum CIE (International Commission on Illumination) whiteness index value of 151 while citric acid and cationic softener have the least rating of 140.93 with a similar chemical dosage of 1.5 g/l by immediate testing. However, after repeated testing for one-month conditioning in atmospheric conditions, complex acid, and nonionic softener treated samples exhibited the maximum whiteness index of 145.86; on the other hand, citric acid and cationic softener treated one had the least rating of 125.85. Moreover, fabric core p(H), reading was found to be 6.68, 6.15 & 5.13 for acetic acid, citric acid, and complex acid through immediate testing. After one month of conditioning, the values were 7.2, 6.61, and 5.25, respectively. Finally, a maximum phenolic yellowing rating of 4–5 was found with complex acid & nonionic softener in contrast poor rating of 2 with acetic acid & cationic softener for immediate testing. Storage of the samples has a significant impact on phenolic yellowing for all types of chemical concentrations. Lightfastness rating was found identical for all samples while bursting strength had a very negligible impact, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy also revealed the presence of noticeable chemical functional groups.