Lyocell fabrics were treated with 2,4-diacrylbenzenesulfonic acid (DABS) crosslinking agent under wet and dry reaction conditions, and also for comparison with a conventional dimethyloldihydroxyethylene urea (DMDHEU) agent, reacted under dry conditions. All treatments with DABS led to an improvement in wet and also dry fabric abrasion resistance, measured using the Martindale test, whereas treatment with DMDHEU reduced dry abrasion resistance. A model based on the kinetic strength theory of Zhurkov was used to interpret results, where dry-state abrasion is reduced through stress concentration at the rigid DMDHEU crosslinks, which does not Occur with the larger flexible DABS crosslinks. Tensile testing of treated lyocell fabrics revealed that breaking strength initially increased at low levels of DABS fixation, but fell at similar levels of DMDHEU fixation. The effect with DABS is due to an increase in the effective molecular weight, which can outweigh the development of stress concentration due to crosslinking. The Zhurkov model was also used to interpret the wet-state abrasion resistance of lyocell fabrics. From this it is concluded that water swelling leads to an increase in stress concentration within fiber structure because of the loss of lateral interfibrillar connectivity, which is reestablished by both DMDHEU and DABS crosslinking. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. I Appl Polym Sci 114:2116-2127,2009