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PAD AND JIGGER DEVELOP

It is common knowledge that powder brands are not suitable and only in pffd /micro fine / supra disperse /paste form are to be used for pigment padding of vats. These brands are specially developed to facilitate dispersion of the dyestuffs in fine particle size so that the made up colours do not agglomerate and sediment easily. However it is recommended to keep the made up colour under stirring to avoid any separation of the dyestuffs
Dye Make up

The colour preparation would include preferably a dispersing agent. The recipe colours need to be pasted in a short volume of water and made up to the required volume with constant stirring. The made up colour should be tested by spotting on a filter paper. The spot should spread uniformly in a circle and no grainy particles should be seen. The made up liquor may be kept stirred during the period of the padding process.
The Padding Mangle

The padding mangle generally shall be double dip double nip system with a three bowl-dyeing mangle. There are advanced type of mangles with only two bowls system, which we shall see as we proceed. We may discuss Padding Mangle at length, as defective mangle and operation could cause major problems. The problems related to padding are common for all classes of colours and hence it is necessary to understand the operation of padding in detail in order to be forewarned and to take precautions. All the rolls shall be of rubber and the shore hardness of the rolls shall be around 70. Very soft bowls tend to peel off faster. The loading of the bowls is very critical, particularly where very wide width fabrics are involved. Load applied on the two ends of wide width mangles shall tend to deflect and the middle portion shall have lower pressure than towards the two ends. Top The fig. on the right represents the expression of a normal loading in the case of a wide width mangle. Such conditions would lead to selvedge to center variations. The deflection of the rolls is influenced by the distance between the supports, the moment of Inertia, the modulus of

elasticity and the linear pressure applied. Only the distance between the supports can be modified to correct / counter the deflection and the other three factors are either material or function related and hence cannot be manipulated. Consider supports along the length of the roller to counter the deflection (more the number of supports provided better would be the purpose served). Yet there would be intermittent areas of higher and lower pressures. Only when the number of supports approaches infinity, there would be any uniformity in the nip pressure. Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 (from Yodogawa Kusters) show respectively the likely results of providing the support in the middle, at two points, at three points, number of supports at intervals and finally in fig.5 the number of supports reaches infinity across the entire length of the roller. The last model would represent a condition that tends towards uniform application of pressure across the nip. Such conditions are made possible by the advanced padding roller designs. The other aspects are: The hardness should be uniform across the width and circumference of the rolls. The pressure applied should be exactly perpendicular to the plane of contact of the mating rolls and pass through the diameter of the rolls. The possibilities of error are high in case of mangles with inclined loading designs with lever systems. There shall be no lateral shifts in the loading points and line contact of the mating bowls should be ensured.

The lateral shift in the above diagram is a bit exaggerated just to emphasize the point Such lateral shifts are responsible for uneven pressure distribution and also for causing damage

to the bowls. This will be more pronounced when the load is off center on both ends. The applied pressure on the bowl would exert a shearing force on the roll and consequent peeling off of the rubber coating. Unless the loading is uniform and alignment is proper, not only there are chances of selvedge center variation but also threat to the life of the bowls
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Testing of the nips

Carbon impression of the nips is a direct index of the uniformity or otherwise of the nip pressure. This is the most easy and widely practiced method to check the nip pressure for uniformity. The intensity and width of carbon impression strip should be uniform across the mangle width. The carbon impressions are taken simultaneously at the middle and at the working width ends marked as middle right and left The deviations in intensity, if visible, could be due to differences in pressure or variation in the hardness of the rubber bowls. The lateral shifts in the mating roll alignments would show as lateral shift of the carbon impressions corresponding to the shift in alignment of the mating rolls The intensity of carbon impression will be less towards the end where there is a shift.
Advanced Padding Designs IMore advanced designs address these problems with distinction and the two leading products Swimming Rolls from Messrs. Kusters and Becoflex from Ramisch Kleinewefers- are based on their independent ingenious designs to counter the deflection phenomenon and achieve the desired uniform nip pressures. They are in use extensively.

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Kusters Swimming roll System Kusters Swimming roll functions on hydraulic loading besides the pneumatic pressures applied at the ends. The Swimming rollers have a rotating shell and a stationery shaft. . The deflection is taken over by the stationery shaft, which is not a working part. The shell rotates around the stationery shaft on self-aligning roller bearings. The design of the S roll is such that hydraulic (oil) pressure is applied independently through a specially designed system to apply pressure in the shell region, which counters the deflection. By the controlled application of pneumatic and hydraulic loading, pressure can be maintained uniform along the nip. A nomogram chart is available for guidance to set the combination of hydraulic and air pressures. Kusters mangles come with either single or double Swimming rolls. Depending on the differential wear the loading would need adjustments and this discretion and corrective action have to be exercised by the technician. The pictures on the right (from Yodogawa Kusters) show the possible effects of deflections causing the various pressure differences across the width and the consequent variation of shade across the width Picture number 3 and Picture number 6 show the nip pressure uniform across the width. While in pic.3, it may be seen that the hydraulic pressure (oil) exerted in the S roll enables alignment of the rolls evenly with the deflection of the mating roll. In the case of the double S rolls the alignment is in the form of a straight edge. In either of the cases, there shall be uniformity across the width of the fabric

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Becoflex Mangle Becoflex system offered by Ramisch Kleinewefers does not employ hydraulic loading of the shell, but achieves the purpose by a pneumatic system. Individual internal pressure zone adjustments over the entire fabric width as well as retracting cushions for avoiding selvedge pressing are possible by the ingenious design to differentially pressurize different zones of the roller. Pneumatic support elements do not require any seals. If the rubber coating of the shell becomes defective it is only the shell that needs to be changed. This system claims advantage over the hydraulic system. Flex nip Flex Nip of Kusters operates on different principle i.e. the fabric is pressed in between two blades arranged in a V shape and whose nip pressure at the convergent point could be adjusted. The padding liquor is accommodated in the V formed by the blades. The pressure and the consequent gap between the blades determine the quantity of liquor picked up by the fabric. It is a direct positive add on application and the volume of the dye liquor in the V is minimal. The advanced padding systems with PLC supported instrumentation are more user- friendly to quickly address the problems and achieve precision adjustments and controls.

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Padding Operation Pick up considerations It is a standard practice to estimate the pick up of the colour and calculate the total colour to be made up including the pad box volume. The pad box nip expression is physically checked and this figure is used in the calculation. 10% of the made up colour is added to the jigger bath to compensate for any leaching out of the colours in a blank Vat bath at the start. Therefore the recipe colour concentrations in g p l should take into account this addition to the bath Let us examine recipe colour concentrations of a tertiary matching Colour X Colour Y Colour Z xgpl ygpl zgpl 80%.

Expression taken for this illustration

(Good mangles give around 70% expression For a dyeing mangle it is desirable not to go below 70%, as the function of water as the medium of transport gets more and more restricted as the expression levels are decreased. For a wet on wet application it would be advantageous to have higher expressions - i.e. lower percentage pick up to enable subsequent positive pick up requirements.). Addition to jigger Total 10% 90%

I.e. 80 litres of made up colour is picked up by the 100 kgs of fabric and 10 litres of colour is given for addition to the Jigger.

The colour picked up from the pad box by way of expression may be considered as a "positive" addition to a large extent and would not be overtly affected by the exhaustion characteristics of the reduced individual colours, particularly so in a low m :l ratio situation and 10% colour addition to the starting bath in a jigger. It is not suggested that the dynamics of exhaustion would be totally missing in such situations, but the impact will be far less than if the entire colours were to be exhausted from a starting bath. When padding is carried out at (say) 30 meters per minute, the passage through the Pad box in contact with the dye liquor will be of the order of a few seconds depending on the pad box design and therefore the natural process of soaking is not achieved in a single padding situation in a conventional padding mangle. Thus, the dye liquor is denied the opportunity to reach all the pore sites of the fabric and hence not likely to distribute and deposit the pigment colour evenly into the substrate. There is also the likelihood of certain pockets of the interior substrate not reached by the padding liquor Therefore, the purpose of padding will be ill served. The purpose of second nip is to counter this phenomenon and to physically force the dye liquor through second dip and nip. Even this may not be fully successful in cases of very heavy and closely woven fabrics. Ring dyeing phenomenon is a common occurrence in very heavy / doubled yarn / high twist fabrics. Quite a number of times you may come across dyeings on heavy bottom wears when torn along warp or weft line, showing up white undyed / lighter dyed core in the individual yarn

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Padding Mangle Trough Volume / Features The padding mangle trough volume needs to be as small as possible. In a Vat pigment-padding situation, the problem of relative exhaustion of colours in the pad box is less significant. However in order to reduce the quantity of colour drained at the end of a shade run, it is advantageous to have minimum pad box volume. If the recipe is a running one - frequently used, the remaining colour from the pad box need not be drained but collected separately for storage and used to supplement fresh colour as and when prepared. Care should be ensured that the colour collected is stored in a clean container and when taken for re use, it is strained through a filter - fabric or a strainer. . The purpose of complete penetration of colour into the fabric is also achieved by a system of threading inside the pad box through lay on rollers, which ensure liquor penetration /exchange faster because of the pressure applied by the lay on rollers. Such arrangements would achieve shortening of Pad box volume. There are also designs for volume displacement to reduce the dye liquor volume and thus prevent any change in concentrations (particularly applicable for other classes of colours like Reactives) and also save on the pad box colour wastage at the end of the run. The advanced padding mangles discussed above have troughs in the form of a narrow U with lay on rollers to assist better dye penetration and therefore employ only one set of padding rollers. They are also designed to swing out to disengage the lay on rollers for quick cleaning and change of shades. The criticality of trough volume, nip pressure and dozing of the dyes and chemicals is of paramount importance for Reactive Pad Batch dyeing and Continuous dyeing systems, which may be discussed later. There are Padding mangles available in the market that employ an intermediate stage of vacuum through which the fabric passes just before entry in to the pad box, thus ensure the dye liquor is positively sucked in, before mangling. In the absence of advanced padding systems, padding through a nip followed by an intermediate dwelling arrangement and then by a second dip in the dye liquor will be helpful, where very heavy fabrics are involved.

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Variation in pick up in the Pad box

It is generally advantageous to have cooling (chilled cylinder) followed by airing arrangement before the padding mangle to cool / condition the fabric. Absorbency of a hot fabric could be affected due to over drying and consequent deficiency in wicking action. Wet fabric need to be segregated before issue to the Dyeing Department. Drying before issue to dyeing has been discussed at length and all those precautions need to be taken. In the example cited earlier the shade should be achieved with the use of 90 litres of recipe colours for 100 kgs of fabric. I.e. 80 litres from pad box pick up and 10 litres added to the Jigger This assumes that the fabric is picking up 80 litres of colour from the pad box. This would happen only when the preparation of the fabric is consistently good and uniform. Otherwise fabric pick up may result in more than 80 litres or less and accordingly the shade will be darker or lighter. Such situations arise where the preparation is batch wise and the discipline to segregate different batches is not practiced. In such circumstances, the pick up on the pad box will differ. It is necessary therefore to monitor the pick up of individual batches while padding by measuring the volume picked up by the particular batch and adjust the colour to be added to the jigger If a particular batch of 100 kgs picked up 75 litres, the addition to the Jigger should be adjusted to 10 +5 (15) litres. If on the other hand the pick up were to be 85%, the addition would be only 5 litres (i.e. 90 litres the pick up from the Pad box). There are also cases where different fabrics with different quality parameters are to be dyed the same shade and the pick up figures would not match. In such cases, if the cotton mix is the same the recipe may not change but a correction factor of 5 to 10% + in the make up volume would suffice. If a change in the mix and or twist parameters are involved the recipe may have to be altered even to get the same shade. As already discussed, different morphological factors could cause changes in the cellulose's physical properties, such as its crystalline and amorphous contents, total quantity of cellulose and other components influencing its dyeing behavior. While it is possible to adjust for the variation in the pick up in a batch wise padding operation, in a continuous operation or Pad batch situation (Reactives) such differential additions in the subsequent development operations is not feasible and hence it is necessary to have uniform and satisfactory preparation of the substrate. Continuous monitoring of the moisture in the fabric substrate, the colour pick up, dozing of the colours and chemicals and corrective on line intervention activity by the instrumentation / PLCs that are included in the advanced systems, greatly assist in countering the inherent marginal variances if any in the preparatory processes The padded rolls need to be taken up for immediate dyeing on the Jigger. They may be stored for a short time of half to one hour provided the expression is less than 80%. They need to be stored with their ends supported on tracks so that the fabric batch is not touching any part of the tracks and is subjected to compression. They should be periodically rolled over the track. The batch needs to be covered with polythene sheet. This meets the double purpose of avoiding drying up of the selvedges and staining of the batches by different shades stored side by side.

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Jigger development. The jigger bath setting with reducing chemicals and auxiliaries, the dyeing operation and the precautions that are to be taken were discussed earlier. Following points are worthwhile noting in the dyeing operation. There are instances where Process Houses when developing in the jiggers, run the padded material first into a bath set only with Caustic Soda and start adding Hydros after two ends. This practice negates the advantage gained by padding. The padded colour being in a loosely attached pigment form would partially leach out into the jigger bath and again would need efforts to be exhausted. The amount leached out would vary according to the m: l ratio and or

the temperature of the bath. When the vat pigment is reduced in sito the colour will not leach out from the substrate, as readily as the unreduced vat pigment. Since there could be colours that are IN, IW or IK in the recipe, different levels of leaching and their relative exhaustion during developing on to the fabric would cause vagaries in dyeing from batch to batch and also within the same batch like tailing. In case of#000099s and Blacks in their self-shades or combinations, by virtue of their high exhaustion characteristics, starting with blank caustic baths may be employed to assist evening out of any observed variation in the padded material due to preparation faults. Precautions to be taken for dyeing at higher temperatures have been discussed in the last issue. However bad cases of preparation deficiencies cannot be corrected. Auto Jiggers are readily available and it is recommended to have such jiggers. Poly- Propylene fabric as end pieces would be advantageous to avoid wastage of good fabric. The Selvedge Centre variation would arise only if precautions suggested in the earlier part of this article are not taken. Standardization of padding / jigger operations and the dyeing parameters renders Vat colours as the most suited for the concept of "Blind Dyeing" The stitch marks could be a major problem if the stitches are not butt-to-butt as discussed earlier under stitching of the pieces. Very coarse thread used for stitching could also damage the rubber bowls of the padding mangle.