Effect of Nonionic Surfactant Solutions on Wetting and Absorbency of Polyethylene Terephthalate(PET) Fabrics (Part II) -Surfactants Characteristics and Fabric Properties-

The wetting behavior and liquid transport of nonionic surfactant solutions; Span 20 and Tween 20, 40, 60, 80, 21, 61, 81, 65 & 85: in polyethylene terephthalate(PET) fabrics are reported. Five different PET fabrics are used in this study. PET 1, 2 & 3 have different compactness in structure. PET 4 & 5 have similar physical properties to PET 2, however, PET 4 has heat set finish and PET 5 with rewetting agent. The wetting and water retention properties of PET fabrics are greatly improved by addition of nonionic surfactants. The aqueous liquid retention(W) vs. cosq and W vs. adhesion tension has positive linear relationship. Hydrophilic surfactants which have short hydrophobes and surfactants with unsaturated hydrophobe structures are more efffctive in improving the wetting properties of PET fabrics. PET fabric which has larger thread spacing shows greater value of water retention ratio(W/H) than PET fabric with smaller thread spacing if there are no surfactants present in the system, however, W/H values become very similar among these PET fabrics when the surfactants are added. If there are no surfactants present in the system, PET with heat set finish has smaller value and PET with rewetting agent has greater value of W/H than PET without finish even though the fabrics have the similar physical properties.