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08/14/2006 -
Chemical Testing of Textiles (2005)
edited by Qinguo Fan
ISBN 1-85573-917-8. CRC Press/Woodhead Publishing, Boca Raton, Florida. 2005. Hardcover. 497 pages. $239.95.
| REVIEWED BY: | Gary S. Vardon, Julian Productions
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Chemical Testing of Textiles is edited by Qinguo Fan and covers more subjects than the title implies. These subjects include fiber and yarn identification, chemical analysis of feather, down, leather, fiber finishing, textile coatings, membranes, damage to textiles, water, wastewater, and colorants. Perhaps a more accurate name would be Testing for the Textile Industry. Physical tests are also included in this book, although most of the tests are chemical. Some of the physical tests include soil release testing, repellency testing, ultraviolet (UV) protective testing, anti-insect and mite testing, density measurements, accelerated aging, and others.
One problem with textiles that most of us have to deal with is dirty laundry. A sentence from Chapter 6 by P.J. Hauser sheds light on the topic: "The ability of textiles to release soil during laundering is a function of many factors including the nature of the soil, the mechanical action imparted by the washing machine, the compensation of the detergent, the structure of the textile, the washing temperature, and the surface characteristics of the textile fiber." This should give an idea of the writing style, as well as what is involved in getting your laundry clean.
As the title of this book implies, most of the book is devoted to chemistry and chemical tests. Chemical knowledge plays a large role in the textile industry as this text ably illustrates. Some examples follow. Textiles can be identified by doing such tests as solubility, dye staining, and burning. The ash content of down and feathers can be determined to see if barium salts have been used to whiten down. Matrix-assisted laser desorption–time-of-flight mass spectrometry offers about 100% accuracy in identifying many common bird species. Infrared spectroscopic analysis can distinguish genuine leather from synthetics. Tannages, which are substances used in the tanning of leather, need to be analyzed. Chrome is one of the most important of these tanning agents. Sizing agents, lubricants, cohesive agents, antistatic agents, antimicrobials, defoamers, and emulsifiers may all require determination. Water, wastewater, and colorants also need to be tested. Routine analytical tools, such as colorimetery, titration, ion-specific electrodes, atomic absorption, inductively coupled plasma, and gas chromatography are used.
Another chapter treats fabric finishes and performance tests. These tests include flame retardancy, soil release, ultraviolet protection, and even anti-insect and mite testing. Determining the cause of damage to textiles is an area that this volume covers in a long chapter. The book documents a multitude of analytical tools to do this damage determination. Among other methods, microscopy, chromatography, thermal analysis, and surface imprints are discussed.
This book provides insights into textiles and related subjects, as well as chemistry and analytical tools. Some of the techniques require more detail to use if you are going into the laboratory unaided. This is to be expected. Most analytical books are written for the experienced user. It would be useful if interferences in the tests were mentioned in more detail. The chemistry involved in the wet analysis could also have been discussed. This volume is well written and well printed. The authors seem to know their stuff (their stuff including textiles and chemistry). The target audience includes those interested in textiles and related materials, chemists, and material scientists. A background in undergraduate chemistry is needed to understand the text.
For more on Chemical Testing of Textiles, visit the Woodhead Publishing web site. |
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