The Effect of Recycled Fibers on the Ecological Washing Performance of Denim Fabrics

In this study, denim fabrics were produced with yarns obtained from cotton fibers (CO), recycled cotton fibers (r-CO), recycled Tencell fibers (r-Tencell) and recycled polyester (r-PET). Enzyme washing process was applied on these fabrics. A full factorial design was used to study simultaneously the effect of recycled fibers percentage in the fabric, enzyme type, enzyme concentration, treatment time and pumice stone dosage. The tear strength of treated fabrics was measured. The main goal of this work is to keep loss in fabric tear strength within tolerable limits (>2500 cN). The response surface methodology (RSM) and desirability functions were employed to obtain simultaneous optimum input parameters and to determine critical process for each composition.