Project Details

Title: Improvement in Cotton Fabric Quality by Plasma

Nano-technology: An Eco-Friendly Approach

Funded By : National Fund for Basic, Strategic & Frontier Application

Research in Agriculture (NFBSFARA)
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
New Delhi - 110012

Duration : 3 Years
Start Date : 01/06/2011

End Date : 31/05/2014

Lead Institute : Central Institute for Research on Cotton

Technology (CIRCOT)
Adenwala Road, Matunga, Mumbai 400019
Ph. : 022-24127273/76 Fax: 022-24130835/24157239
Email: circot@vsnl.com
Website: www.circot.res.in

Investigators :
Sl. No.

Name

Investigator
Type

Dr. Kartick K. Samanta

P.I.

Dr. Sujata Saxena

Co-P.I.

Shri. A. Arputharaj

Co-P.I.

Shri. Manik Bhowmick

Co-P.I.

Objectives:
1) Design, fabrication and development
pressure cold plasma reactor.

of

atmospheric

2) Investigate the effect of different plasma parameters on

generation and stabilization of atmospheric pressure glow
plasma.
3) Investigate the effect of plasma treatment in the
improvement of colour value of cotton and cotton-polyester
blended textiles.
4) Study the generation of plasma in the presence of
hydrocarbon/fluorocarbon
precursor
and
plasma
polymerization to impart hydrophobic to super-hydrophobic
functionality in textile.
5) Investigate the effect of plasma treatment in improving
interfacial strength of natural fibre reinforced composite.

Expected outputs :
1. Indigenous design, development and fabrication of atmospheric
pressure glow cold plasma reactor suitable for surface modification of
textile substrates.
2. Improving the colour value of cotton and polyester-cotton blended
textile.
3. Development of hydrophobic & super-hydrophobic stain repellent
textile.
4. Improving the interfacial strength of the natural fibre reinforced
composite.
5. Significant reduction in consumption of water, chemicals and cost of
production.

For further information :

Dr. Kartick K. Samanta
Principal Investigator
Scientist, Chemical and Biochemical Processing Division
CIRCOT, Matunga, Mumbai 400019
Email: karticksamanta@gmail.com

Plasma
Plasma is a partially-ionized gas composed of many types of species such as positive and
negative ions, electrons, neutrals, excited molecules, photons and UV light. Plasma is also
considered as the fourth state of matter. The lightning bolt and solar corona are example of
plasma present in nature. Artificial plasma is also available in different devices such as
fluorescent lamp, neon sign, welding arcs, gas lasers and plasma reactor. Today, plasma is
used for varieties of industrial applications ranging from arc welding, metal hardening, metal
coating, nuclear fusion, television, synthesis of nano-sized materials, creation of nanostructure, surface cleaning, functional polymeric coating, and change in surface
hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity of substrates. Hot plasma is applied in metal, electrical and
material industry. However, such plasma is not suitable for processing of polymeric material
as the temperature of plasma zone is extremely high. In contrast, cold plasma, where
temperature of the plasma zone is near to the room temperature, can be used for nano-scale
surface engineering of polymeric & textile substrates. In plasma surface modification, the
changes are principally attributed to the physical or chemical changes in the material because
of the high-energy bombardment of plasma or plasma enhanced reactions.

Figure 1: Example of manmade plasma

(www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/P/plasma.html)

Generation of Plasma
Plasma can be generated either under low pressure or at atmospheric pressure. Ionization of a
gaseous molecule to produce plasma is carried out by applying sufficient discharge voltage
and frequency. It is quite easy to ionize a gaseous molecule by electrical break-down under
low pressure conditions and it has been extensively studied for material processing. However,
the technology has not been commercialized in textile & allied industry due to its inherent
limitations of batch process and high cost of operation, as the process has to be carried out
under vacuum. Atmospheric pressure cold plasma on the other hand can overcome these

limits of low pressure plasma and so, it is receiving the interest of the research community for
various applications.

Figure 2: Schematic of atmospheric pressure plasma processing of textile.

Atmospheric pressure plasmas such as corona, di-electric barrier discharge (DBD) or jet can
be produced by applying 1-100 kHz frequency and 1-20 kV discharge voltage between two
parallel or curved electrodes. One or both the electrodes are covered with quartz, pyrex,
alumina or glass di-electric sheet having a thickness of 1-3mm. The textile material is placed
on the lower electrode and plasma gases are introduced from one side of the reactor that
spreads over the textile substrates for uniform treatment. Atmospheric cold plasma is a cost
effective technology, which can be easily integrated with the existing textile process.

Plasma Processing of Textile

It is well known that during the wet chemical processing textile industries consume large
amount of water and produce huge quantities of effluent. The cost of the final products also
increases because of multiple drying of wet textile. Recently, due to increased environmental
awareness and stringent effluent norms, textile industries are now slowly moving towards
implementation of environment friendly no or low-water technologies such as digital printing
spray & foam finishing which are environment friendly. The use of eco-friendly chemicals
and agents such as natural dyes, enzyme and plant extract for textile processing and finishing
is also increasing. Cold plasma seems to be a promising economical and ecological sound
technology for wet chemical processing of textiles. Different value added functionalities such
as water, stain and oil repellent, hydrophilic, antimicrobial, flame retardant, U.V. protective,
and improvements in dyeing, printing, bio-compatibility and adhesion can be imparted by
changing the fibre surface at nano-meter level. Low pressure plasma has already been
extensively studied for such applications, however the technology has not been

commercialized in textile due its techno-economical limitations. The new category of

atmospheric pressure cold plasma can overcome the limitations of low pressure plasma and is
being explored for similar application. Intensive research is needed to address several
challenges associated with plasma generation and carrying out in-situ reactions on textile
substrates, before its on-line integration with the existing textile processing for commercial
applications.

Figure 3: Application of atmospheric pressure plasma in textiles

Surface modification with a desired functionality can be engineered by selecting the right
plasma parameters and ratio of carrier to precursor molecules. Fragmentation of a precursor
molecules followed by reaction of plasma with fibres is the best method for nano-scale
surface engineering of textiles. Plasma reaction is a complex process involving both
constructive and destructive type of reactions, which makes it difficult to control. Plasma
reaction at atmospheric pressure is still more challenging due to the presence of high density
ions, electrons, excited particles and readily availability of reaction inhibitor such as air and
oxygen. A few commercial atmospheric pressure cold plasma machines are available for
processing of textiles. However, their reactor design and process technology is not suitable
for carrying out in situ plasma reaction on various textile substrates using different liquid and
gaseous precursors to impart a desired functionality. Till date, limited information is available
on the effect of various plasma parameters, such as discharge voltage, frequency, power and
ratio of carrier to precursor gases on plasma generation, and the performance of textiles with
imparted functionality.

Advantages of Plasma processing :

Liquid-free dry & single step process
Required of less amount of chemicals
Lower processing time
Economical and ecological
Nano-scale surface modification only and bulk remains unaltered
Modification is independent of chemistry of the substrate
Many functionalities can be imparted