S. Kay Obendorf
Focuses on Soil Removal and Fabric Contamination

Has your company ever had any quality control complaints related to laundering? Bleeding colors? Stains remaining after laundering? Do you manufacture protective clothing or uniforms for health care professionals? Kay Obendorf may be someone you should talk to. Professor Obendorf's research interests include many laundering and fabric contamination issues.

She has conducted extensive research on detergency mechanisms and processes, most recently investigating oily soils, the cause of yellowing on shirt collars and cuffs. Professor Obendorf has studied both the chemical interactions of soils and fibers and the physical means that hold soils on fabric surfaces. The understanding of soiling mechanisms and detergency functions has enabled industry to design better laundry detergents for more complete soil removal.

Professor Obendorf and a student examined the role of clothing as a source of hospital contamination with Aspergillus fungal spores. They found that the spores, responsible for many hospital deaths among patients with weakened immune systems, are easily carried on staff and visitor clothing. The physical structure of a fiber is the most important factor determining whether a fabric picks up spores and how easily it releases them. An irregular fiber shape, such as the cotton enlarged in this photograph, allows the most spore release. Laundering is an effective means of removing fungal spores from fabric, so the researchers recommend covering visitor and staff clothing with hospital laundered garments to reduce risk of infection.

In additional fabric contamination studies, Professor Obendorf and her students have studied the mechanisms that hold pesticides on fabric surfaces and the ease of contaminant transfer to the skin beneath. They found that the surface chemistry of fibers plays a role in the protective abilities of fabrics, and they were able to develop a model for predicting pesticide penetration of fabrics. Another project studied the relationship between nonwoven fabric barrier performance and air permeability. They found that better barrier fabrics had lower air permeability, leading to poor thermal comfort for the wearer.

Some questions you might ask S. Kay Obendorf:

• What determines why some soils are removed with detergent and some are not?
• What prewashing techniques should I follow with imported cotton fabric?
• How can I use these advanced techniques to solve practical problems related to textiles and apparel?

• What textile materials can be worn when applying pesticides?
  How should clothing worn for pesticide application be laundered?