Alkali Treated Jute Fabrics Suitable for the Production of Inexpensive Technical Textiles

This work aimed to obtain jute fabrics suitable for the production of inexpensive technical textiles by using simple alkali treatments. The influences of alkali concentration (1–17.5 % NaOH) and treatment duration (5–30 min) on the fabrics’ compression properties, abrasion resistance, and sound absorption coefficient were studied in detail. With increasing the treatment severity, the fabric compressibility decreases by 19.6–33.9 % due to increased fabric compactness. In parallel, the fiber crystallinity index and hemicellulose content decrease, while the fibers’ interfibrillar regions become less dense and less rigid contributing to 19.0–27.0 % better recoverability after compression. The mercerized fabrics possessed a notably lower mass loss (4.1–5.9 %) after 750 abrasion cycles compared to the other investigated fabrics (18.9–30.9 %), which could be ascribed to the higher friction forces existing between the yarns within the mercerized fabrics and between the fibers within the yarns, as well as higher elongation at maximum force. In the case of the fabrics treated for 5 or 15 min with different NaOH concentrations, their mass losses during abrasion decrease with increasing the elementary fiber liberation, while the sound absorption coefficients increase with increasing the fabric compactness. Mercerized fabrics are capable of absorbing about 28 % to 2.7 times (at 990 Hz) and 2.0 to 2.4 times (at 4090 Hz) higher mechanical sound energy compared to the untreated fabric. The jute fabric mercerized during 30 min could be used for the production of carpet backings, while those mercerized during 5 min is the most suitable for the production of sound-absorbing materials.