APPLICATION OF FRAGRANCE FINISH ON

SILK FABRIC BY MICROENCAPSULATION

TECHNIQUE
Dr. Mansi Hans* and Dr. Alka Goel**
* Assistant Professor
Dept.of Home Science, MMPG college, Kankhal, Haridwar
**Professor/National Fellow
Dept. of clothing and textiles, college of home science
G.B.P.U.A.&T., Pantnagar
INTRODUCTION
 InIndia, use of different parts of several
herbs to cure specific ailments has been
in vogue from ancient times.
 Spreading and preserving this knowledge
on herbs and their uses has become
important for human existence.
 Thereis a growing tendency all over the
world to shift from synthetic to natural
based products including herbs.
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 Pure fragrance compounds and essential
oils have been used traditionally in folk
medicine for a long time.
 These oils are lightly fragrant volatile
substances, which can occur in various
leaves, petals, fruit and roots of plants.
 Volatileoils have been reported to
possess anti-inflammatory, anti-
microbial and anti-viral actions.
 Other possible effects seem to be to
reduce stress and emotional variability. 3
 Aromatherapy is the treatment or
prevention of disease by use of
essential oils.
 Two basic mechanisms are offered
to explain this effect.
 One is the influence of aroma on the
brain, especially the limbic system
through the olfactory system.
 The other is the direct
pharmacological effect of the
essential oils. 4
 As the ‘second skin’ of the human body,
all types of textile are excellent media
for transferring fragrant compounds, and
are essential to people according to their
preference for them.
 The most difficult task in preparing the
aromatherapy textile is how to prolong
its lifetime of odours.
 Thekey to aromatherapic textile is how
to make microcapsules of fragrance
compounds and essential oils without
omitting any ingredient in order to
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ensure its pharmaceutical effects.
 Microcapsules are minute containers that are
normally spherical if they enclose a liquid or gas,
and roughly of the shape of the enclosed particle if
they contain a solid.
 A special form of packaging- particulate matter can
be individually coated for protection against
environment and release the volatile substance from
the enclosed capsule as required.

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 The scents of lavender, rose, citrus or
vanilla were encapsulated into fabrics,
which imparted psychological and
emotional , as well as physical and
sensorial effects.
 Patients suffering from high blood
pressure feel sedation when they use a
pillow made of fabric treated with
lavender or lemon microcapsules.
 In order to exploit the goodness of
therapeutic oils in textiles, the present
research work has been designed to
encapsulate the therapeutic aromas in the
textile materials to study their effect and 7

durability.
OBJECTIVES
 To optimize the formation process of
microcapsules with citronella oil and guar gum.
 To optimize the process for application of
microcapsules on silk.
 To study effect of finish on physical properties
of treated fabric.

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MATERIALS AND METHODS

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RAW MATERIALS USED FOR THE
STUDY
Fabrics used
 Silk was weighted fabric, it was tussah silk procured
from Khadi Gram Udyog, Pantnagar.
Oils and gums
 Citronella oil was used as core material
 Guar gum was the gum used in the study as wall
material.
Microencapsulation technique used
 Phase separation- simple coacervation
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CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK OF THE STUDY

Procurement of raw materials

Selection of microencapsulation technique

Simple coacervation technique

Optimization of concentration

Optimization of temperature

Microcapsules formed

Application of finish onto the fabrics

Ensuring the presence of microcapsules (SEM)

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Physical testing of finished fabrics

SIMPLE COACERVATION

 The guar gum was combined with citronella oil for the
formation of microcapsules.
 The whole process was optimized using standard recipe by
Thilgavati G., et. al., 2007 as base for the combination of gum
and oil.

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FLOWCHART OF THE SIMPLE COACERVATION PROCESS (MODIFIED)

Distilled water Gum

Stirring

25ml hot distilled

water

Stirring for 10 mins

Dropwise
addition of oil

Stirring for 15 mins at

400rpm at 40° C
5ml of 20%
Sodium Sulphate
solution
Stirring for 10 mins
2.5ml of 17%
Alcoholic Formalin
solution
Stirring for 5 mins at
low rpm of 100 rpm

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Formed microcapsules were
then freeze dried at 5°C
OPTIMIZATION OF SIMPLE
COACERVATION PROCESS

Gum Oil

Optimization of concentration

Optimization of temperature

Formation of microcapsules

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OPTIMIZATION OF CONCENTRATION
 Different combinations of concentrations of both gum
and oil were used in five different ratios.

Table-3.1: Ratios of concentrations of guar gum and citronella oil.

S. no. Ratios Amount

Gum(g): Oil(ml) Gum(g): Oil(ml)
1. 1:1 0.5: 0.5
2. 2:1 0.5: 0.25
3. 1:2 0.25: 0.5
4. 1:3 0.25: 0.75
5. 3:1 0.75: 0.25

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OPTIMIZATION OF TEMPERATURE

 The optimized concentration process was then

subjected to different temperatures of 30°C,
35°C, 40°C, 45°C, and 50°C.
 Theevaluation of results for the best temperature
was done on the basis of formation of
microcapsules.
 The precipitate from each experiment was
examined and the temperature ensuring the
formation of capsules was selected. 16
PRE-TREATMENT OF FABRICS
 Before the application of finish, fabric was pre-
treated to remove the impurities like fats and oils.
 This was removed by scouring and degumming
treatments.
 Degumming of silk was done using mild soap
solution.

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APPLICATION OF FINISH ON FABRICS
 The optimised process for gum and oil were then
prepared for application.
 Thefinish was applied on the pre-treated silk fabric
with the help of padding rollers.
 Afterapplication the fabric sample was given heat
treatment at 80-85°C in an oven for 5 minutes.

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ENSURING THE PRESENCE OF
MICROCAPSULES
 Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used
to ensure microcapsules’ presence in the fabrics.
 During the optimization stage also high
magnification microscope was used to test the
presence of capsules.

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 Fabric thickness

Fabric stiffness

Fabric drape

Abrasion resistance

Physical properties of the finished Thermal conductivity

fabrics
Pilling resistance

Crease recovery

Breaking strength

Elongation
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

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SIMPLE COACERVATION

oOptimization of concentration

Table-4.1: Ratios of concentrations of guar gum with citronella oil

S. No. Ratios Amount

Gum(g): Gum(g):
Oil(ml) Oil(ml)
1. 1:1 0.50: 0.50
2. 2:1* 0.50: 0.25
3. 1:2 0.25: 0.50
4. 1:3 0.25: 0.75
5. 3:1 0.75: 0.25
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*Ratio selected for citronella oil
OPTIMIZATION OF TEMPERATURE
 The optimized gum-oil concentration ratio was then subjected to
different temperatures of 30°C, 35°C, 40°C, 45°C, 50°C and 60°C.
 Microscopic analysis of the precipitate from the experiment showed
that lower temperatures of 30°C and 35°C were not able to produce
microcapsules.
 At higher temperatures of 45°C, 50°C and above, the solution began
to bubble and microcapsules were not observed to be formed at this
temperature.
 This may be because the high temperature broke the formed capsules.

 At this temperature the oil, which is volatile in nature, evaporated at

higher rate leaving very less quantity to encapsulate hence leading to
no formation of microcapsules.
 At the temperature of 40°C, formation of microcapsules was noted
hence it was considered as optimized temperature. 23
OPTICAL MICROSCOPIC IMAGE OF THE GUAR GUM-
CITRONELLA OIL MICROCAPSULES AT X45
MAGNIFICATION

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Application of finish on fabrics

Sem analysis

Evaluation of physical
properties of finished fabrics
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SEM IMAGE OF MICROCAPSULES ON SILK
FABRIC

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SEM IMAGE OF MICROCAPSULES ON SILK
FABRIC

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SEM IMAGE OF MICROCAPSULES ON SILK
FABRIC

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SEM IMAGE OF MICROCAPSULES ON SILK
FABRIC

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SEM IMAGE OF MICROCAPSULES ON SILK
FABRIC

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SEM IMAGE OF MICROCAPSULES ON SILK
FABRIC

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SEM IMAGE OF MICROCAPSULES ON SILK
FABRIC

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SEM IMAGE OF MICROCAPSULES ON SILK
FABRIC

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PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FABRICS
Name of the property Control sample Finished silk
Fabric thickness (mm) 1.39 1.5
Bending length (cm)
Warp way 1.1 1.25
Weft way 1.8 2.1
Drape coefficient (%) 51.34 57.96
Abrasion loss (%) 3.56 2.93
Thermal conductivity (clo) 0.169 0.175
Crease recovery angle (0)
Warp way 100 98
Weft way 86 85
Breaking strength (gm/cm)
Warp way 10387.854 8908.9
Weft way 39018.9 30811.07
Elongation at break (%)
Warp way 14.99 13.08 34
Weft way 10.83 10.98
CONCLUSION
 Aromatherapy is becoming increasingly popular as one of
the many approaches to healing with natural substances.
 As a second skin to humans, textiles are very effective
delivery agents for aromatherapy.
 Aromatherapy through medical textiles can be used as an
alternative means of treatment.
 Micro-encapsulationcan effectively control the release rate
of the fragrance compounds and essential oils as required,
which ensures increase in shelf life of volatile substances.
 One may choose various products such as fibers, fabrics,
non-fabrics and garments to enjoy the pharmaceutical and 35
emotional effects of aromatherapic textiles.
THANK YOU

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