Establishment of quantification methods for novel polypropylene/polyamide 6 - based bicomponent fibre in textile binary mixtures

This study was aimed at establishing quantification methods for binary mixtures containing a new polypropylene/polyamide 6 - based bicomponent fibre, for which a new generic fibre name has been requested to the European Commission. Application of such methods is requested by EU legislation (Directive 96/73/EC) to enable market surveillance regarding the textile composition data on labels that are compulsory. The methodology for quantification of fibre mixtures is usually based either on manual separation or on chemical dissolution methods. In both cases, a sample pre-treatment, able to remove non-fibrous material, is needed. The key experimental parameters that need to be established for the novel fibre are: its moisture regain in standard atmosphere (agreed allowance), its mass loss due to pre-treatment (b coefficient) and its mass losses in the methods where it is insoluble (d correction factors). Results of this study showed that the b coefficient for the new fibre, using the normal pre-treatment, is equal to 0 %. As expected from the chemical composition and synthetic character of the novel fibre, the experimental value for the agreed allowance was low and equal to 0.54 %. The new fibre was insoluble in ten out of the 14 dissolution methods tested and the correspondent ten d correction factors were evaluated. Three of them were also validated through a collaborative trial organised at European level following the internationally accepted guideline ISO 5725-2:1994. The d correction factors obtained throughout the study were in the range of 1.00-1.01, meaning that the fibre was completely insoluble or at maximum 1 % soluble in the dissolution reagent. Based on the results of this study, laboratories across the EU and beyond have now at their disposal methods to quantify the new fibre in binary mixtures with polyester, elastomultiester, polyamide, chlorofibres, certain acrylic and modacrylic fibres, acetate, triacetate, polylactide, certain cellulose fibres and certain protein fibres.

PICCININI Paola;  ALVAREZ SARANDES LAVANDERA Rafael;  TRANTALLIDI Marilena;  DE SERTORIO Maria; 

2012-02-03

SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD

JRC62068

0040-5175,   

http://trj.sagepub.com/content/81/19/1966,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC62068,   

10.1177/0040517511402131,