Characterization of the behaviour of flavour microcapsules in cotton fabrics

Nanotechnology processes have recently been introduced into the textile field. One of these processes involves encapsulated nanoparticles or nanoproducts, known as microcapsules. They are available with a wide range of products which confer different properties related to the nature of the encapsulated product. The composition of the wall material determines the release of the product into the fabric and is the object of study in the present work. The behaviour of microencapsulated peppermint was analyzed on cotton fabrics. Different application methods have been tested, impregnation versus bath exhaustion. As impregnation turned out to be the most efficient, some recipes were assayed and the effect of microcapsules on maintenance conditions was evaluated in order to determine the most suitable method with the longest lasting effect on fabrics. The effect of microcapsules is usually measured by the presence of a property such as odour measurements when flavours are encapsulated. The aim of this work is to explain the behaviour of the cotton fabrics with microcapsules bound to their fibers, to determine the relationship between their macroscopic properties and microscopic characteristics. A procedure based in FTIR spectroscopy is also proposed to quantify the presence of microcapsules in the fabrics. IR spectra of the textiles were obtained to determine the presence of microcapsules, which was corroborated by SEM techniques. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.