Surface micro-dissolution of ramie fabrics with NaOH/urea to eliminate hairiness

Ramie fabric has excellent air permeability and moisture absorption, but the scratchiness caused by hairiness has seriously limited the development of ramie in the apparel field. In this paper, we studied a novel surface micro-dissolution method, which can swell cellulose macromolecules on the surface zone of ramie fabric and eliminate hairiness to decrease scratchiness. Surface micro-dissolution was conducted in the presence of sodium hydroxide/urea (NaOH/urea) aqueous system as an effective cellulose solvent at low temperature. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry were used to investigate the morphology and structure of treated ramie fabrics. Hairiness configuration, breaking strength, whiteness, and moisture sorption of the fabrics were also studied. The results indicated that surface micro-dissolution could effectively eliminate hairiness, and the fabric's tension decreased only slightly. In addition, whiteness and moisture sorption was also maintained.