| Summary: | In this study, influence of nano-zinc oxide treatment on the UV protection properties of the widely used apparel fabrics including flax, polyester, and nylon, were investigated by means of ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) assessment. Nanoparticle content of the flax, polyester, and nylon fabrics were determined to be 1.2, 0.9, and 1.5 wt%, respectively. The UPFs of non-treated fabrics were in the range of 1.5 to 2.2 in the entire UV region. An improvement in UPF was obtained after introducing the nanoparticles into the fabrics. Approximately a sixfold- increase in UPF (11.02 ± 1.57) against UV-B was recorded for nylon. Flax and polyester fabrics had nearly the same UPF values around 2.8 against UV-B, while they were close to each other (2.71 ± 0.22 and 2.61 ± 0.28 for flax and polyester, respectively) against UV-A. SEM micrographs showed that nanoparticles agglomerated on flax and polyester in high extent, whereas they existed as dispersed particles at micro scale together with some slight agglomeration inside nylon. Keywords: Zinc oxide nanoparticle, Textile fabrics, Ultraviolet protection factor
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