The Evaluation with Statistical Analyses of the Effect of Different Storage Condition and Type of Gas on the Properties of Plasma Treated Cotton Fabrics

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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 195 ( 2015 ) 2170 – 2176

Peer-review under responsibility of Istanbul Univeristy.

doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.285

ScienceDirect

World Conference on Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The Evaluation with Statistical Analyses of the Effect of Different Storage Condition and Type of Gas on the Properties of Plasma

Treated Cotton Fabrics

Mehmet Kilinc

^a,

*, Seyda Canbolat

^a

, Can Eyupoglu

^a

, Dilek Kut

^b

aIstanbul Commerce University, Faculty of Engineering and Design, Department of Fashion and Textile Design, Istanbul, 34840, Turkey

bUludag University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Textile Engineering, Bursa, 16059, Turkey

Abstract

In this study, cotton fabric was treated with oxygen, nitrogen and argon plasma application. The plasma application was carried out for 10 minutes at low frequency. Firstly, contact angle of plasma treated samples was measured at the end of plasma treatment. The results showed that the plasma treatment causes to increase the hydrophility of samples. Moreover, it was seen that the type of gas affects the hydrophilic properties of samples. After then the samples were left during 1 month with different conditions which were under normal condition and covered with aluminum foil. Finally, the contact angle of plasma treated samples was measured after 1 month in order to determine the durability effect of plasma treatment on properties of cotton fabric.

After the contact angle measurements, the results were evaluated with statistical analyses in terms of the type of gas and storage conditions of plasma treated samples. The results demonstrated that the storage conditions and type of gas affect the hydrophilic properties of plasma treated cotton fabric after 1 month.

Peer-review under responsibility of Istanbul University.

Keywords: Plasma Treatment, Wool Fabric, Durability, Statistical Analyses

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 444-0413/3232; fax: +90-216-489-0269.

E-mail address: mkilinc@ticaret.edu.tr

Peer-review under responsibility of Istanbul Univeristy.

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1. Introduction

‘Sustainable’, ‘economical’ and ‘ecofriendly’ production has recently become important issues in textile manufacturing processes. Plasma treatment used in order for modification on the surface of textile material is one of the ecological and economical methods (Morent et al., 2008; Boonla & Saikrasun, 2012).

Plasma, the fourth state of matter, is described as an ionized gas having electrons, photons, induced atoms or molecules, radicals, metastable atoms, neutral atoms or molecules. Well-known plasmas are solar corona, lightning, flames, and fluorescent lights (Thurston, Clay, & Schulte, 2007; Samanta et al., 2014). The plasma condition can be generated when a gas is exposed to an electromagnetic field at high temperature and pressure (Kan, 2011). Plasma can be classified as Total Thermodynamic Equilibrium, Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (Thermal Plasma) and Non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (Cold Plasma) in Plasma. Total Thermodynamic Equilibrium in Plasma is found only in stars and the Sun. Thermal Plasma gives heat energy which can melt a material and it is used in weld and cutting process in heavy industry. In textile industry, Cold Plasmas are used frequently because of having room temperature (Kut, 2011).

Plasma treatment is deemed as a dry process in textile industry inasmuch as the treatment does not require water and chemicals (Rombaldoni, Montarsolo, Mossotti, & Innocenti, 2010; Raslan, Galab, 2013). Furthermore, the dyeability of textile materials can be improved with plasma treatment so that the plasma treatment causes to occur physical and chemical change on the surface of textile materials (Shahidi & Ghoranneviss, 2006). Besides, the plasma treatment is mentioned in literature as an effective technique for homogeneously modifying the surface properties of textile materials. There are many researches about the effects of plasma treatments of textile materials.

The properties of textile materials such as dyeability (Kamel, El Zawahry, Helmy, & Eid, 2011), hydrophilic (Suni, Henttinen, Suni, & Mäkinen, 2002), hydrophobicity (Avram, Avram, Bragaru, Ghiu, & Iliescu, 2008), water-oil repellent (Caria, Hauser, 2010), felting (Erra et al., 1999), handle (Naebe, Tester, & McGregor, 2014), flame retardant (Omerogullari & Kut, 2012), shrink resistance (Erra et al., 1999), adhesion (Cools, Van Vrekhem, De Geyter, & Morent, 2014) and etc. are improved with the plasma treatment.

In this study, the effect of plasma treatment on hydrophility of cotton fabric was investigated. The plasma application was performed with oxygen, nitrogen and argon for 10 minutes at low frequency. Firstly, contact angle of plasma treated samples was measured at the end of the plasma treatment. After that the samples were left during 1 month with different conditions which were under normal condition and covered with aluminum foil. Finally, the contact angle of plasma treated samples was measured after 1 month in order to determine the durability effect of plasma treatment. After the contact angle measurements, the results were evaluated with statistical analyses.

According to the results, the plasma treatment caused to increase the hydrophility of samples. After 1 month, the results demonstrated that the hydrophilic properties of samples decreased significantly in oxygen and nitrogen plasma treatment.

1. Materials and Methods 1.1. Materials

In this study, plain weaved raw cotton fabric with the weight of 155 g/m²was treated with oxygen, nitrogen and argon plasma for 10 minutes at low frequency. After the plasma treatment, the contact angle of plasma treated fabrics was measured at the end of the plasma treatment. Secondly, the samples were stored for 1 month with different conditions which were under normal condition and covered with aluminum foil. Finally, the contact angle of plasma treated fabrics was measured after 1 month to determine the effect of plasma treatment on properties of cotton fabrics. After the contact angle measurements, the results were evaluated with statistical analyses.

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1.2. Plasma Treatment

The plasma treatments of cotton fabrics were performed with oxygen, nitrogen and argon gas in Diener Vacuum Plasma with low frequency at 40 kHz for 10 minutes. The cotton sample was placed onto the anode and then the pressure of the chamber is adjusted at 0.6 mbar.

2.3. Storage Condition

Plasma treated samples were waited 1 month with different conditions which were under normal condition and covered with aluminum foil. Table 1 shows the plasma treatment conditions, storage conditions and codes of samples.

Table 1. The plasma treatment conditions, storage conditions and codes of samples.

Codes of Samples Plasma Treatment Conditions Storage Conditions Raw fabric The sample without plasma treatment. The sample was not stored.

Oxygen The sample was treated with oxygen plasma for 10 minutes.

The sample was not stored.

Nitrogen The sample was treated with nitrogen plasma for 10 minutes.

The sample was not stored.

Argon The sample was treated with argon plasma for 10 minutes. The sample was not stored.

Oxygen af for 1 month The sample was treated with oxygen plasma for 10 minutes.

The sample was stored under aluminum foil for 1 month.

Nitrogen af for 1 month The sample was treated with nitrogen plasma for 10 minutes.

The sample was stored under aluminum foil for 1 month.

Argon af for 1 month The sample was treated with argon plasma for 10 minutes. The sample was stored under aluminum foil for 1 month.

Oxygen nc for 1 month The sample was treated with oxygen plasma for 10 minutes.

The sample was stored under normal conditions for 1 month.

Nitrogen nc for 1 month The sample was treated with nitrogen plasma for 10 minutes.

The sample was stored under normal conditions for 1 month.

Argon nc for 1 month The sample was treated with argon plasma for 10 minutes. The sample was stored under normal conditions for 1 month.

2.4. Contact Angle Measurements

Contact angle of samples was measured with Attension By Ksv Instrument. The velocity of digital camera was adjusted so as to take 80 images per second and the volume of drop was 4-6 cm³. The contact angle of cotton samples was measured by the images. The measurements of contact angle were repeated five times.

1.5. Statistical Analyses

In this study, the samples were treated three different plasma gases. These are oxygen, nitrogen and argon. After the plasma treatment, the contact angle of samples was measured. Furthermore, the plasma treated samples were stored under aluminum foil and normal conditions for 1 month. After 1 month, the contact angle of samples was measured. Moreover, the effect of type of gas and storage conditions on the contact angle of samples was analyzed with ANOVA. The calculations of ANOVA were implemented with the use of MATLAB R2014a. In variance analysis, the types of gas and storage conditions were the factors. The effects of the types of gas and storage conditions on the contact angle of samples were analyzed for %95 confidence interval. The durability effect of plasma treatment was investigated from these results.

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2. Results and Discussion

2.1. Contact Angle Measurements of Samples

The contact angle measurements of samples treated oxygen, nitrogen and argon plasma were given in Figure 1, 2, 3 and 4. The graphics of contact angle results of samples were generated with MATLAB R2014a.

Fig. 1. The contact angle measurements of plasma treated samples.

Fig. 2. The contact angle measurements of oxygen plasma treated samples.

Fig. 3. The contact angle measurements of nitrogen plasma treated samples.

Fig. 4. The contact angle measurements of argon plasma treated samples.

According to the results, it was showed that hydrophility properties of cotton fabric increased after the plasma treatment. In addition, when the results were compared in terms of type of plasma gas, oxygen plasma caused an increase in hydrophility more than nitrogen and argon plasmas. The contact angle of the sample treated oxygen plasma was not measured so as to be considerable hydrophility. The reason of these results was deemed that plasma treatment caused an increase in micro cracks and functional groups of cotton fabric surface. The micro cracks in the surface of cotton fabric were considered to increase the capillarity of cotton fabric (Shishoo, 2007). However, hydrophility characteristics of cotton fabric decreased after 1 month under normal and covered aluminum foil

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condition. The reason of this result was considered that the functional groups occurred after plasma treatment on the surface of cotton fabric loses its activity more quickly in atmospheric conditions. For this reason, the decrease of hydrophility of normal condition storage samples is higher than the decrease of hydrophility of covered aluminum foil condition storage samples. Furthermore, the effect of plasma treatment on the cotton fabric decreases after a certain time. Argon gas is inert gases and argon plasma treatment is to make a physical interaction with the fabric surface (Shishoo, 2007). Because of these reasons, it was deemed that argon plasma treatment imparts less hydrophilic characteristic than oxygen and nitrogen plasma treatment. Oxygen gas is more electronegative than argon and nitrogen gases. For this reason, it was considered that oxygen gas constitutes more micro cracks on the surface of samples and gives more hydrophilic characteristic in the samples (Shishoo, 2007).

2.2. Statistical Analyses

The results were calculated with ANOVA predicted that the main factors such as the type of gas, the storage conditions and the interaction effects were highly significant (P < 0.05). In the variance analysis, the effect of plasma gas type and storage conditions after 1 month on contact angle of samples were analyzed in order to determine the durability effect of plasma treatment. The contact angle measurements of samples after 1 month were given in Table 2.

Table 2. The contact angle measurements of samples applied with plasma treatment after 1 month.

Plasma Treatment with Oxygen Gas Plasma Treatment with Nitrogen Gas Plasma Treatment with Argon Gas Storage under

Aluminium Foil Storage under

Normal Condition Storage under

Aluminium Foil Storage under

Normal Condition Storage under

Aluminium Foil Storage under Normal Condition

72.84 82.59 95.92 94.20 94.22 113.57

72.06 82.74 95.78 94.20 97.60 113.55

72.82 82.05 86.09 94.66 100.69 113.93

72.38 81.96 93.32 99.06 94.07 113.50

72.51 82.59 93.55 94.66 94.22 113.92

The mathematical model of statistical analysis was given in Equation 1.

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Where Yijk, μ, Ai, Bj, ABij and İijk are the contact angle measurements of samples, mean of measurements, the effect of gas type on contact angle measurements, the effect of storage condition on contact angle measurements, the effect of gas type and storage condition on contact angle measurement and error, respectively.

The hypotheses and alternative hypotheses are;

H01: Ai=0 The type of gas did not affect on the contact angle of samples after 1 month, HA1: AL0 The type of gas affected on the contact angle of samples after 1 month,

H02: Bj=0 The storage condition did not affect on the contact angle of samples after 1 month, HA2: Bj The storage conditions affected on the contact angle of samples after 1 month,

H03: ABij=0 The type of gas and storage condition did not affect on the contact angle of samples after 1 month,

HA3: ABLM The type of gas and storage condition affected on the contact angle of samples after 1 months, respectively. The results of ANOVA were given in Table 3.

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Table 3. The results of ANOVA.

Source df Sum of square Mean square F values Prob>F

Gas type (Ai) 2 3831.98 1915.99 391.87 <3.40

Storage condition (Bj) 1 741.12 741.12 151.58 <3.40

(Ai) x (Bj) 2 285.41 142.70 29.18 ޒ3.40

Pure error 24 117.34 4.88

Cor total 29

According to the ANOVA results, the type of gas and storage conditions affected on the contact angle of samples applied with oxygen, nitrogen and argon plasma treatment after 1 month. Moreover, the type of gas and storage conditions affected on the contact angle of samples after 1 month. The results show that the storage conditions affected on the durability of the plasma treatment.

3. Conclusion

Recently, using of plasma technology in textile industry has been become significant in order to save using energy, water and chemicals. Furthermore, plasma technology is described an eco-friendly production method in textile industry. In this study, cotton fabric was applied plasma treatment with oxygen, nitrogen and argon for 10 minutes at low frequency. After the plasma treatment, the hydrophilic properties of samples were analysed with contact angle measurement. Moreover, after the plasma treatment, the samples were stored under aluminium foil and normal condition for 1 month. Then, the hydrophilic properties of samples were analysed with contact angle measurement. The effect of the type of gas and storage conditions on cotton fabric after the plasma treatment was investigated. In addition, the effect of the type of gas and storage conditions on cotton fabric after the plasma treatment was analysed with ANOVA analysis. The results demonstrated that the type of gas affects the hydrophilic properties of cotton fabric. While the oxygen and nitrogen gas caused an increase in the hydrophility of cotton fabric, the argon gas caused a decrease in the hydrophility of cotton fabric. Besides, the results showed that the effect of plasma on the hydrophility of cotton fabric decreases with the passing of time. Furthermore, according to the results, the storage condition influences the plasma effects on cotton fabric. As a conclusion, plasma treatment can be used in textile industry in order for the modification of textile materials. However, textile wet process should be carried out immediately after the plasma treatment.

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