Simultaneous improvement of adhesion and desizability of yarn coating enabled by controllable Fe coordination with soy protein size

Warp sizing and desizing are the indispensable process for high-speed and smart weaving. Biodegradable and low-cost soy protein (SP) exhibits easy film formation and is a promising candidate for use as textile sizing agent. However, current sizing agents confront the trade-off between strong yarn adhesion and easy desizing. In this work, ferrous ion (Fe (II)) was introduced as coordination bridges between SP size and yarns, inducing alterations in secondary structure of protein during sizing, thereby enhancing interfacial interactions through increased coordination and electrostatic adsorption. Compared to the original yarn, the adhesion between SP size and Fe (II) modified yarn increased by 21.78%, promoting an increase in the strength and abrasion resistance of sized yarn by 11.96% and 24.96%, respectively. High-efficiency desizing was achieved through chelation of Fe (II) with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). A 97.89% desizing efficiency and 93.52% removal of surface Fe (II) were rapidly arrived under treatment in 0.1 M EDTA at 60 °C, representing increases of 32.27% and 80.19%, respectively, over water desizing. Modified SP sizing system mainly via Fe (II) coordination enable controllable high efficiency of sizing and desizing simultaneously, provides a promising approach for the development of yarn coating and sustainable textile industry. Download: Download high-res image (195KB) Download: Download full-size image