Multifunctional modification of linen fabric using chitosan-based formulations.

Chitosan is a new-age functional biopolymer which can be utilized for functional finishing of cellulose-based textile materials. In the current work, linen fabric was modified using two-stage finishing using chitosan-citric acid and phytic acid-thiourea thus imparting multiple performance characteristics such as wrinkle-free, antibacterial, flame retardant and antioxidant properties. The multifunctional linen fabrics were characterized using FTIR, TGA, SEM and EDX analysis. The fabrics were evaluated for textile properties like tensile strength, bending length, yellowness index, absorbency and functional properties like crease recovery angle, antibacterial activity, UV protection, flame retardancy and antioxidant properties. The durability of functional properties was also evaluated. The finished linen fabric displayed efficient multifunctional properties which were retained to a moderate level till 20 washes.