ABSTRACT
ARUMUGAM, KARTHIK ENZYMATIC TREATMENT OF FIBERS FOR
NONWOVENS (Under the direction of Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi)
Cellulases are natural catalysts for the modification of cellulosic materials. The major
advantage of enzymes in wet processing is their specific action without undesirable side
effects. Cellulase treatment is commonly used to produce specific finishing effects such as
ageing, defuzzing, and softening. The latter is often achieved by sacrificing the strength of
the fabric. The strength loss problems would be severe in case of nonwovens since cellulase
could attack bonded area of the fabrics which leads to significant web strength loss.
Therefore, this research was undertaken to investigate the effects of enzymatic pretreatment
on the properties of cotton fibers and fabric produced from enzymatically modified fibers.
The first stage of this research was to investigate the effect of cellulase action on bleached
cotton fibers. Two enzyme solutions, Cellusoft L, a commercial whole cellulase solution, and
monocomponent endoglucanases (EG) devoid of its cellulose binding domain (CBD) were
used in this work. Enzyme hydrolysis was monitored by weight loss, enzyme adsorption and
reducing sugar formation. The effect of enzyme action on the fiber surface was also analyzed
by Congo red dye analysis and imaging with Scanning electron microscope (SEM). The
analysis revealed that Cellusoft L was more aggressive than the CBD-free monocomponent
endoglucanases.
Based on the analysis of reducing ends, nonwoven fabrics were prepared by carding and
hydroentangling of fibers treated under selected conditions. The fabrics prepared from fibers
treated with Cellusoft L and CBD-free EG’s, showed improved performance in terms of
tenacity in comparison to fabrics prepared from untreated fibers. However, improved
bending properties were observed with fabrics made of fibers pretreated with Cellusoft L
rather than the fabrics made of CBD-free Endoglucanases treated fibers. It has been
establis