Entitled Preparation and Characterization of Some Carbohydrate Thickeners Suitable for Textile Printing

Abstract

This work has been carried out to investigate preparation and characterization of Methylcellulose derivatives (MC) from the cellulosic wastes of EL-Nasr Company for Intermediate Chemicals which is used for the preparation of MC/polyacrylic acid composite for its utilization as thickening agent in printing cotton with reactive dyes. The wastes were first purified, followed by alkali ageing for different intervals of time to obtain cellulosic samples acquire different degrees of polymerization (D.P.). The prepared MC derivatives were assessed for degree of substitution (D.S.), solubility and the rheological properties of their solutions were thoroughly investigated. Acrylic acid monomer was polymerized on the backbone of MC to obtain MC/polyacrylic acid composite acquires very high viscosity. The composite was diluted and used as thickening agent in printing cotton fabrics with different classes of reactive dyes. The printed fabrics were assessed for k/s and fastness properties. From the resultS obtained, it can be concluded that MC/polyacrylic acid composite could be used successfully as a thickening agent either alone or in admixture with either sodium alginate or emulsion in printing cotton fabrics with reactive dyes. These fabric sampls acquire soft handle, k/s and overall fastness roperties equal to that obtained on using sodium alginate.