Vol. 2, Issue 5, Part L (2016)

Abstract
Cotton is a basic necessity of every one's life and it plays a very vital role in the Indian economy. It is generally termed as a major cash crop of India. It sustains the Indian cotton textile industry, which constitutes the single largest segment of organized industries in the country. It provides gainful employment to millions of people from cotton background engaged in harvesting, plucking, and marketing, ginning and pressing of cotton. But, Khadi cotton has some shortcomings, like higher maintenance costs for washing and ironing. It is also less preferred due to rough texture and low drapability. Swelling agents, primarily strong electrolytic solvents have been employed to pretreat cellulose. Due to loosening of crystalline region of cellulose by swelling agents, the absorbency of the fabric towards water and dyes is increased. Therefore, in the present study attempts has been made to optimize conditions for the use of Ethylenediamine and evaluate the changes in physical properties like weight loss, moisture absorption, tensile strength loss, bending length, crease recovery angle, thickness and water absorption. In case of Ethylenediamine, 80% w/v, 60 minutes and 70 °C were selected as optimum concentration, treatment time and temperature, respectively. Swelling agents are important tools in the textile industry for cellulosic fibres. They provide an economical way to treat cotton fabrics. Thus, it was concluded from the present study that the positive effects obtained with Ethylenediamine swelling agent i.e., moisture absorption, bending length and crease recovery angle were maximized by using the optimized process variables.