Amphiphilic alginate stabilized UV-curable polyurethane acrylate as a surface coating to improve the anti-wrinkle performance of cotton fabrics

In this paper, a reactive amphiphilic alginate was prepared by an Ugi reaction using 4,4′-diaminostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid and its structure was analyzed by FT-IR and 1 H NMR measurement. Subsequently, it was utilized as emulsifier to prepare polyurethane acrylate (PUA) emulsion and the colloidal properties including zeta potential , droplet size distribution and stability were evaluated. The results showed that the PUA emulsion by this modified alginate had better colloidal stability than that by original one. Finally, stable PUA emulsion was used for surface treatment of cotton fabrics in a UV curing process to improve their anti-wrinkle performance. By measuring the wrinkle recovery angle, it was found the anti-wrinkle properties of cotton fabrics were significantly improved with the increase in the amount of modified alginate. In addition, this anti-wrinkle finishing method was found to have many advantages such as low temperature, low yellowing as well as high washing resistance.