Preparation for shrinkproofing wool

Abstract

A preparation for shrinkproofing wool composed of: (a) 1 to 50 weight percent of organopolysiloxanes, which are built up from (a.sub.1) 90 to 99.8 mole percent of units of formula R.sub.2.sup.1 SiO, and (a.sub.2) 0.2 to 10 mole percent of units of the formula R.sup.2 SiO.sub.1.5 in which R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 consist of 0.1 to 10 mole percent of polyoxyalkylene residues and, on the other hand, of 0.03 to 3 mole percent of mercaptoalkyl or mercaptoaryl residues, and/or 0.06 to 6 mole percent of aminoalkyl residues and/or 0.1 to 10 mole percent of anionic groups, which are linked to silicon atoms through carbon atoms, the remaining portion of R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 groups being methyl groups, up to 10 mole percent of which however may be replaced by alkyl residues of longer chain length, by aryl residues or by hydrogen atoms, while at the same time up to 5 mole percent of the oxygen atoms, which are liked to silicon, may in each case be replaced by two lower alkoxy or hydroxy groups, and (b) 50 to 99 weight percent of water and/or organic solvents. Wool, treated with this preparation, retains its resistance to shrinking even after repeated launderings. The hand of the wool and the hand of knitted and woven fabrics produced from the wool is not affected.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.