Substantivity of Polyethylenimines on Cotton Fabric

Samples of cotton print cloth were impregnated with 10% solutions of polyethylenimines of various molecular weights, line-dried or oven-dried, and then subjected to ten standard laundering and drying cycles. Analysis for retention of the polyethylenimine (PEI) on cotton fabric through a series of ten laundering cycles showed that substantivity increased with increasing molecular weight of PEI. The effect of oven-drying of PEI-cotton fabric was to increase the retention of PEI over that on line-dried samples; the magnitude of the increase was tmoportional to the moledular weight of the PEI. Fabric properties are described.