[ahitc2014]

Hi all,

I am not a chemist but I have great interest in learning new analytic techniques and am a curious soul.

I want to find out if it is possible to remove all formulation from a wet cloth so I get a dried fabric that I can perform FTIR on to find out the blend. I know that the formulation contains these chemicals: Glycerine,
Glyceril Polyacrylate, sodium benzoate, sodium hydroxide, p-anisic acid, carbomer, citric acid,coco-glucoside,
glycerate oleate, lauryl glucoside, polyglyceryl-2- dipolyhydroxystearate, phenoxyethanol

Thanks

[Corribus]

It's easy to analyze fabrics and other polymers using FTIR-ATR. Most instruments even have comprehensive spectral libraries that can identify the substance for you.

(Note that if the fabric has coatings or other additives, these will be detected as well.)

[Arkcon]

I didn't know fabrics could be read with an ATR, so thanks Corribus.  Looks like all of the ingredients are water soluble, so its just a matter of removing all of them by repeated rinsing.  Maybe you can use your FTIR to determine when the rinseate is clear, then dry and scan your fabric.

[Corribus]

I've never done fabrics myself, but you can take a spectrum of just about anything you can press into the crystal. Polymer films are a piece of cake; we do it all the time on packaging materials. And textiles are just woven polymers, after all. Now that you mention it, though, it might be fun to try. I'll go take a spectrum of some cotton and some polyester and see what kind of differences there are.

I did a really quick google search for "ATR and fabric" and turned up a few immediate hits, so definitely possible.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014486170400298X

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/app.21449/abstract?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+on+the+18th+October+from+10%3A00+BST+%2805%3A00+EDT%29+for+essential+maintenance+for+approximately+two+hours+as+we+make+upgrades+to+improve+our+services+to+you

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00405000.2013.827900

It's really the nice thing about ATR. You can get good IR spectra on samples that would be impossible using a traditional instrument. You just have to keep in mind that only the very top layers of surface of the material can be probed, so surface impurities can really matter.