Development of a novel curing system for low temperature curing of resins with the aid of nanotechnology and ultraviolet radiation

Abstract

Textile processing is an energy intensive process, which contributes about 15–20% of the cost of the finished product. The inefficient equipment and the non-optimized processes are the major causes of the energy losses. The most energy intensive process during wet processing is the curing. Conventionally curing/cross linking of resin is done at a high temperature of about 170 °C. In this research work, ZnO nanoparticles were used in the curing process with the aim to replace the conventional catalyst and to decrease the curing temperature and thermal curing time. The curing of resins was carried out using three different techniques i.e. thermal radiation, UV radiation and a combination of thermal & UV radiation. Promising results have been achieved.