关键词: 羊毛氧化, 远红外发射率, 蓄热保暖, 功能织物, PDMS, 氧化铝纳米材料

Abstract: To enhance the thermal storage and warmth properties of wool fabrics, an infrared functional treatment was considered for wool. Aluminum oxide, known for its excellent thermal conductivity as a nanomaterial, was selected as the infrared functional material for finishing wool. However, due to the inherent structure of wool, nanomaterials such as aluminum oxide struggle to adhere uniformly to its surface and are prone to detachment from friction and washing. To address the issues of poor adhesion and insufficient fastness of nanomaterials on wool surfaces, pre-treatment with oxidative descaling and post-treatment with PDMS coating were applied. This study selected potassium permanganate as the oxidizing agent. To explore the optimal oxidative treatment pathway, concentration, temperature, and time were set as variables, with concentrations of 5% and 10% by mass fraction, temperatures of 25°C or heated to 60°C, and durations of 30 min or 60 min. A three-factor, two-level orthogonal experimental design was conducted. The optimized descaling process was determined based on strength loss and aluminum oxide adhesion rate. The results indicated that the optimal oxidative treatment process for wool involved an oxidizing agent (potassium permanganate) with a mass fraction of 5% at 25°C for 30 minutes. For the infrared functional treatment of wool, aluminum oxide concentration was set as a variable with graded mass fractions of 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. All four samples underwent PDMS finishing and were labeled as PA05, PA10, PA15, and PA20. The optimal aluminum oxide infrared treatment formulation was determined by testing the infrared emissivity and photothermal storage warming effect of the samples. The results showed that when the aluminum oxide concentration reached 20% by mass fraction, all performance indicators tended to peak. Further increasing the concentration provided little improvement in the infrared functional properties of the wool fabric. Therefore, the infrared treatment formulation was set as: hydrophilic nano-aluminum oxide at 20% mass fraction, nanomaterial dispersant at 5% mass fraction, nano-aluminum sol binder at 8% mass fraction, and a bath ratio of 1∶10. Abrasion and washing resistance tests were conducted on the samples. The photothermal storage warming performance showed no significant decline. Additionally, in the abrasion test, the treated wool exhibited less pilling compared to untreated wool, indicating that PDMS coating enhanced the fastness of nano-aluminum oxide adhesion on the wool surface while also providing some protection to the wool fabric. Finally, the handle and style of the original wool and the treated wool were evaluated. Except for an increase in surface roughness, other properties such as fullness, stiffness, and tightness remained unchanged. The final results indicated that the treated wool fabric—subjected to oxidative descaling pre-treatment, nano-aluminum oxide infrared treatment, and PDMS coating post-treatment—achieved a temperature increase of 16.57℃, meeting the standards for photothermal storage fabrics. It also exhibited excellent abrasion and wash resistance. This study provides a highly feasible and comprehensive approach for functional processing of wool.

Key words: wool oxidation, infrared emissivity, thermal storage and warmth, functional fabric, PDMS, aluminum oxide nanomaterial