The Current Status and Future Insight into the Production of Machine-washable Wool

ABSTRACT

Although woolen garments exhibit outstanding performance, appearance, and comfort characteristics, yet they suffer from their tendency to felt and shrink during mechanical agitation, which prohibits their laundering in domestic washing machines. In this review article, the chemical and technological aspects of previous and current methods used to obtain machine-washable wool were outlined and criticized. Biological and physical methods for felt-proofing of wool were briefly highlighted. The most common industrial method used for the production of machine-washable wool is the chlorine-Hercosett process. However, this is a polluting process due to the liberation of Adsorbable Organohalogens (AOX) produced by the reaction of chlorine as well as Hercosett polymer with wool keratin. Hence, new reagents were proposed as potential candidates and possible alternatives for the commercially used polluting methods for the prevention of felting shrinkage. These include ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents. Treatment of wool with the suggested reagents would result in partial descaling of wool tops without adverse loss in fibers weight and tenacity.

摘要

虽然羊毛服装表现出优异的性能、外观和舒适性, 但在机械搅拌过程中, 羊毛服装会有感觉和收缩的倾向, 这就禁止了羊毛服装在家用洗衣机中洗涤. 在这篇综述文章中, 概述和批评了过去和当前用于获得可机洗羊毛的方法的化学和技术方面. 简要介绍了羊毛毡防毡的生物和物理方法. 生产可机洗羊毛最常用的工业方法是氯Hercosett法. 然而, 由于氯和Hercosett聚合物与羊毛角蛋白反应产生的可吸附有机卤素 (AOX) 释放, 这是一个污染过程. 因此, 提出了新试剂作为商业上用于防止毡缩的污染方法的潜在候选者和可能的替代品。这些包括离子液体和深共晶溶剂. 用建议的试剂处理羊毛会导致羊毛顶部部分除锈, 而不会造成纤维重量和韧性的不利损失.

KEYWORDS:

• Wool
• felting
• machine-washable
• enzyme
• deep eutectic solvent
• plasma

关键词:

• 羊毛
• 毡缩
• 可机洗
• 酶
• 深共晶溶剂
• 等离子体

Research highlights

• The chemical, physical, and biological methods for enhancing the shrinkage resistance of wool for the production of machine-washable woolen garments were criticized.

• The advantages and disadvantages of the different methods of production of shrink-resistant wool were discussed from technical, ecological, and economical points of views.

Future prospects to improve the resistance of wool to felting shrinkage using new reagents and methods were proposed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).