Dyeing of a Cotton/polyester Blend with Reactive and Disperse Dyes

Aims: 1. To cross-dye a cotton/polyester union fabric with a reactive and disperse dye. 2. To dye polyester fibres by the Thermasol method. 3. To dye cotton fibres with fibre reactive dye. 4. To observe the effect of cross-dyeing the union fabric. Introduction: Fibres may be mixed together to generate a fabric with improved properties or to blend a less expensive fibre with a more expensive one to obtain a compromise between price and performance. When more than two or more different fibres are mixed intimately in a yarn and that yarn is used to make a fabric, the resulting mixture is referred to as a blend. When yarns made from one fibre are woven with yams made from another fibre, the fibre types are not intimately mixed and the fabric is referred to as a union. When fabrics are made from mixtures of fibres, four different types of dyeing effects may be achieved. 1. Solid dyeing - both fibres are dyed the same hue and to the same depth. 2. Reservation - one fibre remains undyed 3. Tone-on-tone - one fibre is dyed a deeper shade than the other. 4. Cross dyeing - each fibre is dyed a different and contrasting hue. Blends of polyester and cotton fibres have become very important to the textile industry. Cotton gives the aesthetic and comfort properties demanded by consumers, while the polyester component adds to performance properties. Fortunately, because of the extreme differences in the dyeing behavior of the two fibres, dyeing blends of these two fibres is fairly straightforward. Each fibre may be dyed the same colour, or they may be dyed different hues. Polyester has no affinity for most of the classes of dyes used to colour cotton, the cellulose being only stained by disperse dyes. The Thermosol process for dyeing polyester was developed by the DuPont company for the continuous dyeing of polyester fabrics. This single development allowed the rapid growth of polyester fabrics in the early to mid-fifties. The process involves padding on the disperse dye together with auxiliaries that minimize migration, drying, then fixing the dye in the polyester by dry heating to a high temperatures about 190 205C. During this process the fibre molecular chains open up at these elevated temperatures and the
1

dispersed dyes vaporize and diffuse into the polymer. On cooling, the dyes are trapped within the fibre yielding coloured fibres that have good fastness properties. Proper preparation of the fabric is important in a continuous dyeing operation. For cotton/polyester, the fabric must be absolutely clean, since residual oils or dirt will be set into the fabric during the Thermosol treatment. The fabric must also wet out instantaneously and uniformly to insure adequate absorption during the padding operation. Advantages for Thermosol dyeing over conventional aqueous batch-dyeing procedures are: 1. Being continuous, large lots can be dyed economically. 2. Since no carrier is involved, residues, and fastness problems are reduced. 3. Dye fixation is excellent. 4. Rope marks are eliminated because the fabric is processed in open width. 5. Heat-setting and dyeing may be carried out simultaneously. 6. Dyeability is not affected by prior heat-setting. The major disadvantage of this method is that very long runs of a given shade are necessary to maximize the full economic benefit. Some general information about the process may be helpful. The dye suspension should be homogenized to make it stable. A thickener, usually, sodium alginate at 0.15-0.3 gm/l, is to improve wet pick up and to minimize migration during drying, thus eliminating side to side and two sided dyeings (i.e. when the back of the fabric is a different depth compared to the face) as well as halo effects around neps and slubs. An anionic wetting agent, e.g., sodium sulphosuccinate at 0.2 gm/l. is added to ensure rapid and complete wetting of the fabric surface. After padding, pre-drying and drying, thermofixation is effected at 190 - 205C for 60-90 seconds to promote complete fixation, penetration, and heat-setting. The cotton dye may be applied from the same bath as the disperse dye. Vat dyes, Sulphur dyes or a Reactive dye can be used depending on the hue and fastness required. In this experiment, a reactive dye will be applied to the cotton fibers in the union fabric, while a disperse dye will colour the polyester fibres. Fibre reactive dyes exhibit excellent wash fastness because they are covalently bonded to the cotton fibre. This class of dyes was developed during the 1950s and continues to be used where excellent wash fastness is required.

The covalent linkage between cellulose and a reactive dye may be generated by either an acidic or basic-reaction, depending on the nature of the reactive group. Most require the presence of alkali and some heat to form the bond to cellulose. Fixation processes include: Steaming Dry heat (baking) Air hanging Wet development Pad(alkali)-batch process

If reactive dyes are to be fixed by dry heat, as in the Thermosol process, 50 - 200 g/l urea should be added to the pad-bath. "Wet development" is sometimes employed when reactive dyes are used in combination with azoic dyes. The pad bath or print paste is prepared without any alkali. After drying, the fabric is passed into a hot, alkaline solution (to fix the reactive dye on the cellulose) containing salt to minimize bleeding, then rinsed thoroughly, and dried. The pad-batch process is of value where no steaming or baking facilities are available. The fabric is padded with dye and alkali, batched on a roller, wrapped in polyethylene to prevent drying, stored overnight while being rotated to prevent uneven dyeing, and then rinsed and washed. Large quantities of polyester/cotton blends are dyed in open width by continuous thermofixation methods. One sequence for this process is: 1. Pad with dye and "migration inhibitor". 2. Dry. 3. Thermofix. 4. Wash and reduction clear if necessary. 5. Dry.

After padding and drying, about 30% of the disperse dye adheres to the surface of polyester and the remaining 70% to cotton. During thermofixation, the disperse dye vaporises and transfers to the swollen polyester fibres. For maximum colorfastness, it is desirable to give the dyed fabric either a hot soaping or a warm "reduction clear" with sodium hydrosulphite and caustic soda to remove loosely held surface dye. If this combination of dyes (disperse and reactive) were to be applied by a batch process in a jig or a jet, two steps would be required. The disperse dye would be applied first at high temperature 130C with a dispersing agent, because the reactive cotton dye will not withstand the reduction clear this process is carried out prior to the cotton dyeing to remove surface disperse dye. After the polyester has been dyed with the disperse dye, the reactive dye would be applied to the cotton fibres and fixed, usually by the addition of alkali.

The fabric used in this experiment is a blended 50/50 polyester cotton fabric in both warp and weft.

Equipment and Chemicals

Polyester-cotton fabric A4 size piece Urea (this acts as a humectant to hold moisture during curing of reactive dye, improves solubility and levelness of reactive dye) Sodium carbonate (pH control) Ludigol (sodium m-nitrobenzenesulfonate) (anti-reducing agent) Manutex RS (sodium alginate) (anti-migration agent) Sodium Sulphosuccinate (wetting agent) Blue disperse dye (Serilene Brilliant Blue 2G) Red reactive dye (Procion Red HE3BN) CAUTION -WEAR SAFETY GLASSES AT ALL TIMES DURING THIS EXPERIMENT

Procedure
1. Cut a sample of fabric approximately A4 size. Weigh the fabric sample to the nearest 0.01 g. 2. Prepare the pad bath with: 200 gm/l Urea 20 gm/l sodium carbonate 10 gm/l Ludigol 1 gm/l Manutex RS 20 gm/l Serilene Brilliant Blue 2G (disperse blue dye) 10 gm/l Procion Red HE3B

This padding solution has been prepared for you by dissolving the urea, sodium carbonate, and Ludigol in 720 ml of warm water, cooling, adding the Manutex RS, and stirring till thoroughly mixed. It was stirred at high speed while the disperse dye was slowly added followed by the reactive dye.
4

3. Pad the fabric sample to 80 - 100% Wet Pick Up. 4. Immediately after padding, weigh the sample so that % Wet Pick Up may be calculated. Be certain that the balance pan is covered before placing the wet fabric on it. 5. Dry the padded fabric in the stenter oven at 100-110C for five minutes. The air flow in the stenter is from both sides of the fabric and this will ensure that there is little or no migration. 6. Cure the dried sample in the cure oven at 200C for two minutes. CAUTION THE FRAMES ARE VERY HOT. 7. Cut two 6 x 6 cm samples from one end of the sample for inclusion in your reports as fixed unscoured fabric. 8. Wash the remaining sample in hot water in a stainless steel beaker. 9. Prepare a scouring bath containing 20 ml of 10% sodium carbonate, 20 ml of 10% Detergent (Clarient) 960 ml of water

Immerse the dyed fabric in the bath and place the beaker on the hot plate at 80- 85C. When the temperature of the bath has reached 80C, agitate the sample gently for 10 minutes. Remove the sample, rinse, and dry. 10. Cut two 9 x 9 cm swatches from the dry scoured cloth and unravel a 1 cm fringe on one side and one end. This will expose both the warp and weft yarns. Treat a sample of fabric approximately 3 x 3 cm in 75% sulphuric acid solution to dissolve out the cotton. Include both these samples in your report. 11. Examine the dyed fabric under a low-power microscope. Place your fabric on the stage of the microscope. Focus the instrument by turning the knob that raises and lowers the eyepiece. Observe the fabric first with the warp yarns parallel to the light and then with the weft yams parallel to the light. Notice that when the yams are pointing toward the light, they reflect more light and took lighter. This directional reflectance is called "lustre". If your fabric has not been singed, it will have fibres protruding from its surface. Look for any unlevelness or imperfections in your dyeing and see if you can observe these areas under the microscope. It may help in focusing on the faults if you place the point of a pencil on the fault and then focus on the pencil point.

References 1. Basic Principles of Textile Coloration. Arthur Broadbent SDC, 2001. 2. Giles, C. H., A Laboratory Course in Dyeing, 2nd Ed., 1971. 3. Trotman, E. R., Dyeing and Chemical Technology of Textile Fibers, Fourth edition, 1970. .