Effect of Laundering on Tensile Strength of Chemical Protective Clothing Materials

Abstract

The present study aims at determining the effect of laundering on the tensile strength of locally manufactured chemical protective clothing materials used in various fertilizer-manufacturing units in Pakistan. The research work was performed at Nishat Mills Limited (Dyeing and Finishing Unit). These samples were evaluated for their tensile strength both in the warp and weft directions at various laundering intervals by following Strip method ISO-13934-1. All the data was analyzed through SPSS version 22. As the data was observed on repeated washing cycles, repeated measurement analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to measure the significance of various
washes on tensile strength of samples. A decreasing trend was observed in the tensile strength of all tested
sample both in their warp and weft directions after various laundering intervals. Out of these, sample F showed better performance till the 20th wash as compared to the other samples due to the inherent
properties of polyester fiber. The p-value (0.000) also suggested that there was a significant statistical
difference in the tensile strength of samples after various laundering cycles. It was concluded that
collected locally manufactured protective clothing materials were not adequate to use, as they failed to
meet the required international safety standards.