Degradation of polyester fibers by enzymes

It is know, aromatic polyesters (PES) fibers were resistant to hydrolysis at mild conditions. Hydrolytic susceptibility of these fibers can be by introducing aliphatic components into the aromatic polyester chains when the enzymes can attack the surface of polyester (polyethylene terephthalate) fibers. In this paper, we have investigated the enzymatic degradation of polyester fibers, i.e. polyester fabric. The results show that the enzymatic treatments with different lipases bring adequate effects, especially to the water penetration and absorption, i.e., the sorption properties, and the mechanical parameters of the processed fabrics (strength, elongation, wear resistance). These results confirmed a fact that the enzymes have influence on the surface of PES fibres. The process does not probably cause major damages of the fibre surface or major reorganization of the surface layers of the PES fibres, so therefore their mechanical characteristics are satisfactory.