Optimizing Color Fading Effect of Cotton Denim Fabric by

Enzyme Treatment
C. W. Kan, C. W. M. Yuen, W. Y. Wong
Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Received 18 August 2010; accepted 4 October 2010
DOI 10.1002/app.33561
Published online 14 February 2011 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).
ABSTRACT: In this article, the effect of enzyme treatment using neutral cellulase on the color fading property
of cotton denim fabric was studied. Four enzyme processing parameters namely treatment temperature, treatment
time, pH value, and agitation were considered. To investigate the optimum condition for the enzyme treatment, an
orthogonal analysis was used and, based on the K/S summation value (K/S Sum), the optimum condition for
enzyme treatment in this study was treatment temperature 50
C; treatment time 30 min; pH value 8; and
agitation 50 steel balls (simulated mild agitation) for

INTRODUCTION
Denim garment plays an important role in fashion
and textiles industry. Denim jeans provide durability
and slightly worn look for fashionable appearance
which is the reason why denim jeans are welcomed
by most people over the world. However, it also gives
wearers heavy and rigid sensations due to the sturdy
construction of twill weave and the finishing processes involved. Nowadays, consumers are more concerned with garment comfortable attributes such as
lightweight, smoothness, and softness.1 There are a
number of methods for denim garment for achieving
smooth and soft hand feel1,2 and among these methods, enzyme treatment produces novel fashionable
stone-washing appearance.24 It can also improve fabric quality such as softer hand feel and smoother surface by removing protruding fibers on fabric surface.
Recently, cellulase, as an enzyme, can be used for
treating denim fabric biologically for getting desired
worn and aged effect without going through conventional denim washing with pumice stone.5,6 The
action of cellulases and mechanical agitation, simultaneously or sequentially, will abrade fiber surface,
releasing cotton fiber and causing defrillation at the
surface. In the denim fabrics, due to the enzyme ab-

Correspondence to: C. W. Kan ([email protected]).

Contract grant sponsor: Hong Kong Polytechnic
University.
Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 120, 35963603 (2011)

C 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

V

the best color fading achievement with desired worn and

aged effect. Meanwhile, the level of importance based on
the orthogonal analysis was in the order: treatment temperature > treatment time > agitation > pH and the effect
of each processing factors was also discussed. In addition,
other properties like CIE Lab values, weight loss, and
color fastness to laundering and crocking were also evalC 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 120:
uated. V
35963603, 2011

Key words: enzymes; fibers; surface modification; surfaces

rasion, dye or dye aggregates with cotton will be

released from yarns resulting contrasts in the blue
color. The fibrillation produced during the ageing
process is a result of the synergistic action of cellulases and mechanical action, and therefore, the aged
look is reproduced by less abrasive action.79 Acid
and neutral cellulases are available in the market in
which the acid cellulase is commonly used.10 However, acid cellulase may cause degradation to the
cotton fiber because the cellulase is being applied
under acidic condition (operation pH at about 5.5).11
To get minimized fiber degradation, in this paper,
denim fabric was treated with neutral cellulase
enzyme in recommended concentration and liquor
ratio. There were four factors varied in the cellulase
application to achieve different treatment conditions
and desired worn and aged effects without much
altering the original indigo blue color, they are:
treatment temperature, treatment time, pH and agitation and each of these factors has three levels. To
determine an optimum condition of neutral cellulase
enzyme treatment of the denims, experimental
design method was used for obtaining the optimum
condition for the cellulase enzyme treatment.12,13
The color yield was used as the property for determining the optimum condition.
EXPERIMENTAL
Denim fabric specification
Hundred percent desized 3/1 right hand twill cotton
denim fabric with fabric weight 382 g/m2 was used.

OPTIMIZING COLOR FADING EFFECT OF COTTON DENIM FABRIC

TABLE I
Factors and Levels Used in Orthogonal Analysis
Factor
level

Treatment
temperature
(
C)

Treatment
time (min)

pH

Agitation
(No. steel balls)

I
II
III

50
55
60

30
60
90

6
7
8

0
50
100

The warp and weft densities were 25 ends/cm and 20

picks/cm, respectively. The yarn count of the warp
and weft yarns were 6.57Ne and 10.28Ne, respectively.
Enzyme treatment on denim fabric
Enzyme treatment was carried out by using a Launder-Ometer (Atlas Material Testing Technology LLC,
Chicago) which is a thermostatically controlled water
bath system with stainless steel containers could be
mounted. The containers were mounted on a horizontal shaft and rotated at speed of 40 to 45 rpm. Mechanical agitation was simulated by using stainless
steel balls with size of 6 mm diameter. Four pieces of
denim fabric specimens were cut into square of 22
cm  22 cm (about 20 g in weight) and the specimens
were conditioned under standard atmospheric pressure at 65% 6 2% relative humidity and 20 6 2
C for
at least 24 h before enzyme treatment.
A neutral cellulase enzyme (Lava Cell NNM, supplier: DyStar) with activity 130 EGU/g [1 EGU/g,
(endo-glucanase activity) unit is defined as the
amount of enzyme required to reduce the viscosity
of a solution of carboxymethylcellulose to one-half]
in powder form was used for treating the denim fabric. A stock solution of 0.1% enzyme was prepared.
The denim fabric was treated with 0.1% on weight
of the fiber (owf) of enzyme with a liquor ratio of 50
: 1 and 20 mL of the stock enzyme solution was
used for the experiments. In preparing the required
pH condition for enzyme treatment, buffer solution
[mixture of 1M dipotassium hydrogen phosphate
(K2HPO4) and 1M potassium dihydrogen phosphate
(KH2PO4)] was added into the liquor with thorough
stirring for keeping the pH values at 6, 7, and 8. The
pH values were checked by electronic pH meter.
To determine an optimum condition of neutral cellulase washing of the denims, a L9(3)4 orthogonal
analysis was used. The factors and levels used in the
orthogonal analysis were shown in Table I and nine
test runs were required as shown in Table II.12,13
The addition of 0, 50, and 100 steel balls (6 mm) in
enzyme treatment aimed for simulating the treatment condition with no agitation, mild agitation,
and vigorous agitation correspondingly.
After enzyme treatment, the denim fabric specimens were rinsed with tap water to lower the temper-

3597

ature quickly and wash away abraded fibers attached

on specimens. The specimens were then treated with
water at 80
C to deactivate the enzyme action. After
that, the specimens were squeezed to remove excessive water and dried in an oven at temperature 70
C.
After drying for two hours in oven, the specimens
were placed for conditioning under standard atmospheric pressure at 65 6 2% relative humidity and 20
6 2
C for at least 24 h before further evaluations.
Measurement of color
The color characteristics of the denim fabric samples
were measured by a Macbeth Color Eye 7000A Spectrophotometer. The condition for measurement was
set under specular excluded with large aperture. The
fabric was folded twice for ensuring opacity and measured twice. The color yield expressed as K/S value,
which could be obtained from the reflectance curve,
ranging from the visible spectrum wavelength of 400
nm to 700 nm with 10 nm interval within the visible
spectrum was calculated. The K/S value was calculated according to Eq. (1) and finally a summation of
individual K/S value (i.e., K/S Sum) over the visible
spectrum wavelength was calculated. The higher the
K/S Sum value, the better color yield will be.1214
K=S 1  R2 =2R

(1)

where K absorption coefficient, depending on the

concentration of colorant; S scattering coefficient,
caused by the dyed substrate; R reflectance of the
colored sample.
In addition, the CIE L*a*b* values were measured
and DE (total color difference) was obtained.
Measurement of weight loss
The weight of denim fabric samples before and after
enzyme treatment was measured by a weight meter
(Shimadzu BX300 m) after conditioning at 20 6 2
C
and relative humidity of 65 6 2% for 24 h.
TABLE II
Enzyme Treatment Conditions for Denim Fabric
Under a L9(3)4 Orthogonal Analysis
Test
run

Treatment
temperature (
C)

Treatment
time (min)

pH

Agitation
(No. steel balls)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

50
50
50
55
55
55
60
60
60

30
60
90
30
60
90
30
60
90

6
7
8
7
8
6
8
6
7

0
50
100
100
0
50
50
100
0

Journal of Applied Polymer Science DOI 10.1002/app

3598

KAN, YUEN, AND WONG

agitation 50 steel balls (simulated mild agitation).

The level of importance based on the orthogonal
analysis was in the order: treatment temperature >
treatment time > agitation > pH.

TABLE III
Orthogonal Table for the Optimization
of Cellulase Treatment
Factors
Test
Run
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
RI
RII
RIII
Difference

Temperature
Agitation
(
C)
50
50
50
55
55
55
60
60
60
1918.47
1669.86
1869.78
248.61

0
50
100
100
0
50
50
100
0
1744.37
1866.30
1847.44
121.93

Time
(min)

pH

30
6
60
7
90
8
30
7
60
8
90
6
30
8
60
6
90
7
1919.37 1822.15
1781.35 1805.00
1757.39 1830.96
161.98
25.96

K/S
sum
648.75
637.67
632.05
594.52
522.81
552.53
676.10
620.87
572.81

The figures in bold are those with the greatest value in

the levels of different factors used.

Evaluation of color fastness

The color fastness to laundering and crocking of the
denim fabrics were assessed by AATCC Test
Method 8 and AATCC Test Method 61, respectively.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Optimum condition for enzyme treatment
The optimum condition for enzyme treatment on
denim fabric could be obtained by means of the orthogonal analysis which provides a convenient way
of determining the optimum condition and level of
importance of different factors in a treatment process.12,13,15,16 The evaluation used for analyzing the
orthogonal analysis is the K/S value. Although K/S
values were measured from wavelength 400 nm to
700 nm with 10 nm interval within the visible spectrum, the summation of K/S value for the visible
spectrum (i.e., K/S Sum) was used for analysis. The
quantity of K/S Sum value is linearly related to the
concentration of the colorant in the substrate. In the
enzyme treatment, K/S Sum value could reflect the
color retained after enzyme treatment and the results
are summarized in Table III. The higher K/S Sum
value, the higher amount of dye retained in the
denim fabrics after enzyme treatment.17 The dye is
preserved in fabric instead of being washed away as
waste during enzyme treatment. It will be in turn a
saving in dye and cleaner sewage.
As the level of parameter which contributes to
give higher K/S Sum value will be the favorable
level of that parameter in condition for the enzyme
treatment. Therefore, the optimum condition for the
denim fabric specimens was treatment temperature
50
C; treatment time 30 min; pH value 8, and
Journal of Applied Polymer Science DOI 10.1002/app

Effect of treatment temperature

Temperature is the most important factor on enzyme
treatment according to orthogonal analysis. Generally speaking, enzyme reaction increases with temperature but it is only activated within a temperature range in which the enzyme structure maintains
stable and unchanged. Beyond this optimum range,
the enzyme activity will decrease sharply as the protein structure of enzyme is tangled through thermal
agitation. The effect of temperature on K/S Sum values is shown in Table III. The temperatures chosen
for enzyme treatment were within the optimum temperature range of the neutral cellulase used. In fact,
there is no great difference of K/S Sum values
between these temperatures as the enzyme activity
will only have great change over 10
C variation.
However, there is a trend of decrease of K/S Sum
values when temperature increases from 50 to 60
C.
It is because the enzyme reaction is activated by
higher temperature within optimum temperature
range, thus more surface fibers on denim fabrics are
hydrolyzed by cellulase6 and the weaken fibers are
further removed by abrasion of fabrics and mechanical agitation.18,19 The indigo dye particles are also
removed with the cotton fibers. As the quantity of
K/S Sum value is linearly related more or less to the
concentration of the colorant in the substrate (i.e.,
shade), thus an assumption could be made that there
is loss of dye from denim fabric during enzyme
treatment. The lower temperature used as 50
C has
the highest K/S Sum value which shows more dye
was retained in the cellulase treated denim fabric.
Effect of agitation
The level of mechanical action is altered by varying
number of steel balls applied in enzyme treatment.
By increasing the number of steel balls applied, the
abrasion of the fabric surface will increase which
creates more accessible sites for enzyme attack. The
effect of agitation on K/S Sum values is shown in
Table III. Since the K/S Sum value is linearly related
to the concentration of colorant in the substrate. The
lower K/S Sum value of specimen means a lighter
shade is resulted. From Table III, enzyme treatment
with no agitation (0 steel balls) has the lowest K/S
Sum, followed by vigorous agitation (100 steel balls)
and then mild agitation (50 steel balls). Therefore,
specimen treated under no agitation has lighter
shade than that treated with mild and vigorous agitation. It is because the cellulose fibers are weaken

OPTIMIZING COLOR FADING EFFECT OF COTTON DENIM FABRIC

after treating with enzyme alone and are not well

removed by mechanical agitation.11,19 The surface of
fabric becomes more hairy and forming a layer of
fuzz on surface.3 For specimen treated under vigorous agitation, a biopolishing effect is obtained. The
weaken fibers are well removed by strong mechanical agitation by 100 steel balls. Thus, a cleaner and
smoother surface is resulted which produce a lighter
shade of fabric as dye particles are also removed
with cellulose fibers. For specimen treated with mild
agitation (50 steel balls), the situation is between
zero agitation and vigorous agitation. Mild agitation
is not strong enough to remove as many weaken
surface fibers as vigorous agitation can, thus rather
uneven surface is produced under mild agitation.
The uneven surface causes higher light diffusion on
surface and thus darker shade of specimen is
resulted as they achieve lower reflectance on
surface.
Effect of treatment time
Longer enzyme treatment time will prolong enzymatic degradation of cellulose and the time for further abrasion. The effect of treatment time on K/S
Sum values is shown in Table III. From Table III, K/
S Sum value decreases continuously with the
increase of treatment time of cellulase treatment. As
the quantity of K/S Sum value is linearly related
more or less to the concentration of the colorant in
the substrate, it shows that there is a decrease in
color depth of cellulase treated denim fabrics. The
decreased color depth with less time is mainly due
to desorption of dye particles that are weakly
adsorbed on fabric. In addition, the decreased color
depth with more time is also due to the fuzziness of
fabric caused by prolong time of cellulase treatment.
With a longer treatment time, cellulase effectively
hydrolyzes fragments of cotton fibrils6 and thus the
fabric would be less fuzzy than the original.11 Therefore, shorter treatment time with enzyme can preserve desired color depth in denim fabrics. Thus,
cellulase treatment with 30 min is optimum.
Effect of pH
Enzyme performs its maximal activity at a particular
range of pH values. Deviation of the optimum pH
range will alter the internal structure of enzyme due
to the electrostatic interactions within the enzyme.
Thus, the enzyme will no longer perform its normal
function. In the study, the pH values chosen for
enzyme treatment are within the optimum pH range
of neutral enzyme which is pH 6, 7, and 8. The effect
of pH on K/S Sum in enzyme treatment is shown in
Table III. From Table III, there is no great difference
in the K/S Sum values from the pH 6 to 8 unless

3599

Figure 1 Color yield of denim fabrics treated under the

different treatment conditions.

pH 8 has the highest K/S Sum value among them.

The effect of pH in the study has the least level of
importance from the orthogonal analysis because the
pH values are within the optimum pH range for
neutral cellulase treatment.
Effect of optimum condition for cellulase treatment
Orthogonal analysis is a useful and simple technique
for analyzing the process variables or factors
involved in a production process. Previous researches12,13,15,16 showed that it could provide a simple and convenient way for finding out the optimum
condition and the level of importance of different
factors in a production process.
After considering the results obtained from the orthogonal analysis as shown in Table III, it was concluded that all four factors used namely treatment
temperature, treatment time, pH value and agitation
could affect the K/S Sum value by contributing different effect on the final color yield. However, the
level of importance based on the orthogonal analysis
was in the order of treatment temperature > treatment time > agitation > pH. Based on the results of
the orthogonal analysis, the optimum condition
obtained for the neutral cellulase treatment was concluded as treatment temperature 50
C; treatment
time 30 min; pH value 8, and agitation 50
steel balls (simulated mild agitation). To verify the
accuracy of the optimum condition, further experiment was conducted using the optimum condition
for treating the denim fabrics and the result were
compared as shown in Figure 1.
The results shown in Figure 1 demonstrates
clearly that the denim fabric treated under the optimum condition achieved and retained the best color
yield when compared with those conditions (19)
shown in Table III with desired worn and aged
effect. The optimum condition could achieve K/S
Sum value of 690.13 which is about 5% reduction in
the color yield when compared with the K/S Sum
Journal of Applied Polymer Science DOI 10.1002/app

3600

KAN, YUEN, AND WONG

Figure 2 Weight loss yield of denim fabrics treated under

the different treatment conditions.

value of the control fabric (724.64). Inside the cellulosic fiber, it consists of the crystalline and amorphorous regions. In the crystalline region, the molecular
chains are well organize and closely packed, the size
of cellulase is not small enough to enter this region
to initiate hydrolysis action.20 The cellulase is then
entering the amorphous region easily where the
space is sufficient for the cellulase to enter and consequently hydrolysis is taking place here.3 After hydrolysis, some of the cellulosic fibers together with
the dye in the amorphous region would be removed.
The amount of dye in the fiber would then be
reduced resulting in the reduction of K/S Sum
value.
Weight loss
The action of enzyme and mechanical agitation will
abrade fiber surface and cotton fiber would be
released resulting in weight reduction. Figure 2 illustrates the weight loss of denim fabrics under different treatment conditions as shown in Table II. After
enzyme treatment, weight loss was observed but the
degree of weight loss was various with different

treatment conditions. However, minimum weight

loss was noted for the denim fabric treated under
optimum condition. When Figures 1 and 2 were
compared, it was found that the effect of cellulase
treatment on the color yield and weight loss were in
the same trend. In enzyme treatment of cellulosic
materials, weight loss due to hydrolysis could not be
avoided but a high degree of hydrolysis is not
expected because it is also correlated with the
strength of the cellulosic materials.15 Although some
hydrolysis is required to obtain the desired effect of
color removal, this study indicates that by selecting
an optimum condition, the cellulase action can be
achieved with desired color fading effect with low
degree of hydrolysis with desired worn and aged
effect.

Color fastness to laundering

Table IV shows the results of color fastness to laundering of different fabric samples. It was noted that
all fabric samples treated with enzyme treatment
could achieve same rating in color change and staining. In accordance with the ASTM D 6554: Standard
Performance Specification for 100% Cotton Denim
Fabrics, the minimum rating of color change and
staining of denim fabric subjected to the laundering
color fastness test should be 2 and 2, respectively.
Obviously, both control and enzyme treated denim
fabrics reached the industrial requirements. When
the ratings of the enzyme treated samples were compared with the control sample, slightly improvements were noted in the staining of the acrylic, polyester and nylon fibers present in the multifiber
fabric. During the enzyme treatment, the surface
fiber together with the unfixed dye in the fiber surface could be removed as a result; no unfixed dye
would be removed from the denim fabric during the
laundering color fastness test.

TABLE IV
Colour Fastness to Laundering of Different Fabric Samples
Staining

Treatment
condition

Colour
change

Wool

Acrylic

Polyester

Nylon

Cotton

Acetate Rayon

Control
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Optimum condition

45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45

45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45

4
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45

4
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45

23
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3

45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45

45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45
45

Journal of Applied Polymer Science DOI 10.1002/app

OPTIMIZING COLOR FADING EFFECT OF COTTON DENIM FABRIC

3601

TABLE V
Colour Fastness to Crocking of Different Fabric Samples
Warp

Weft

Treatment
condition

Dry

Wet

Dry

Wet

Control
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Optimum condition

3
34
34
34
4
34
34
34
34
34
4

12
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2

3
34
34
34
34
34
34
34
34
34
4

12
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2

Color fastness to crocking

The results of color fastness to crocking of denim
fabrics treated under various cellulase treatment
conditions are shown in Table V. According to the
ASTM D 6554: Standard Performance Specification
for 100% Cotton Denim Fabrics, the minimum rating
of dry and wet staining of denim fabric subjected to
the crocking fastness test should be 3 and 12,
respectively. Although the control denim fabric
reached the industrial requirement, the various
enzyme treatments further improved the crocking
fastness results by half grade. For the denim fabric
treated under the optimum condition, the best crocking fastness results were obtained. During the
enzyme treatment, the fabric surface would be
abraded with the cellulase and the mechanic agitation. The surface fiber and the unfixed dye in the
fiber surface would be removed subsequently and
also a smooth surface could be obtained. Therefore,
during the crocking test, no further surface fiber and
unfixed dye could be rubbed out from the fabric surface resulting in improved crocking fastness results.

Figure 3 L* value of denim fabrics treated under the different treatment conditions.

Figure 4 a* value of denim fabrics treated under the different treatment conditions.

CIE L* value
Figure 3 shows the L* values of denim fabrics
treated under the different treatment conditions. L*
value indicates the lightness of the sample. The
higher L* value is, the lighter the sample is. It is a
fact that after the cellulase treatment, the L* values
increased accordingly. The lightness depends on
greatly on the surface texture of the sample. There
are two factors contributing the lightness of cellulosic materials influenced by cellulase action. The
first factor is that the cellulase action gives indigodyed cotton fabric an aged appearance (i.e., biostoning) while the second factor is to give cotton fabric a
revived appearance by removing the surface fiber
(i.e., depilling or biopolishing). Both factors contribute to change the lightness of the cellulase treated
denim fabric. During the action of cellulase and mechanical agitation, the depilling or biopolishing
effect occurs at the fabric surface and consequently
the surface fibers were removed.11 At the same time,

Figure 5 b* value of denim fabrics treated under the different treatment conditions.
Journal of Applied Polymer Science DOI 10.1002/app

3602

KAN, YUEN, AND WONG

TABLE VI
DE of Different Fabric Samples
Sample
DE

Optimum condition

1.63

1.48

1.48

0.90

3.21

2.62

1.83

2.72

2.23

4.68

the action of cellulase on the fiber surface would

increase the smoothness and evenness microscopically. The smoother surface would enhance the regular reflection of light from the fabric surface and
therefore the lightness was increased, although the
K/S Sum values were decreased after the enzyme
treatment.
CIE a* value
The a* value represents the redness and greenness of
a substrate, positive value indicates a redder shade
while negative value shows a greener shades of the
samples. Figure 4 shows the a* value of denim fabrics treated under various conditions. The a* values
of control denim fabric and denim fabric treated
under optimum condition are 1.36 and 1.35, respectively, which indicates that no significant change
was noted after enzyme treatment under optimum
condition. However, when denim fabrics were
treated with other conditions, the a* value increased
which means that color of the denim fabrics turned
redder.
CIE b* value
b* value describes the yellowness and blueness of a
sample. The more positive value of b* means the
greater yellowish of the sample. However, the negative the value of b* is, the bluish the sample is. Figure 5 shows the b* value of different denim fabric
samples. It was noted that after enzyme treatment,
the denim fabrics have a bluer shade than the control specimens. It was believed that during the
enzyme treatment, hydrolysis of the cellulosic fiber
was taken place. The blue indigo dyes originally
held in the fiber would no longer be held by the
fiber and entered the treatment bath after hydrolysis.
Consequently, the blue indigo dyes in the treatment
bath would stain and adhere on the fabric surface
resulting in a bluer shade.
DE value
Table VI shows the DE values of different enzyme
treated denim fabrics. DE value contains the information of color depth, shade and the hue of a sample. DE value is calculated by using the L, a, and b
values with the equation DE [(DL*)2 (Da*)2
1
(Db*)2] =2 where DL*, Da*, and Db* values were the
difference between L*, a*, b* values of a pair of color
Journal of Applied Polymer Science DOI 10.1002/app

standard and sample. The larger the DE value, the

greater will be the color difference between this pair
of color standard and sample. It was noted after the
enzyme treatment, color difference was appeared
between the control and the treated denim fabrics.
This color difference was expected because after the
enzyme treatment, changes in L*, a*, and b* values
were noted and these three values would contribute
the total color difference values. When compared,
the denim samples treated under the optimum condition results in the largest DE value.
CONCLUSIONS
With the use of orthogonal analysis, the optimum
condition for neutral cellulase enzyme treatment for
denim fabric was obtained by considering the K/S
summation (K/S Sum) value. The optimum condition was treatment temperature 50
C; treatment
time 30 min; pH value 8, and agitation 50
steel balls (simulated mild agitation). The level of
importance based on the orthogonal analysis was in
the order: treatment temperature > treatment time >
agitation > pH. After obtaining the optimum condition, the denim fabric was treated under this condition for verifying the process condition. It was found
that the denim fabrics treated under the optimum
condition retained the best color yield with desired
worn and aged effect. Meanwhile, other properties
such as weight loss, colorfastness to laundering and
crocking reached acceptable results. Also after the
enzyme treatment, the CIE L*a*b* values were
changed differently with the greater DE for the fabric sample treated under optimum condition.
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Journal of Applied Polymer Science DOI 10.1002/app