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Comparison of properties of cotton fabric dyed with pigment and reactive


dye
Tanveer Hussaina; Rashid Alia
a
Department of Textile Chemistry, National Textile University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

To cite this Article Hussain, Tanveer and Ali, Rashid(2009) 'Comparison of properties of cotton fabric dyed with pigment

and reactive dye', Journal of the Textile Institute, 100: 1, 95 98


To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/00405000701679590
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405000701679590

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The Journal of The Textile Institute


Vol. 100, No. 1, January 2009, 9598

TECHNICAL NOTE
Comparison of properties of cotton fabric dyed with pigment and reactive dye
Tanveer Hussain and Rashid Ali
Department of Textile Chemistry, National Textile University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
(Received 15 March 2007; final version received 23 July 2007)
Bleached cotton fabrics were dyed in light, medium and dark shades with pigment and reactive dye systems. The properties
of the dyed fabrics were compared. It was found that in terms of fabric pilling and light fastness, particularly in deep shades,
pigment dyeing is superior to reactive dyeing. However, in terms of fabric stiffness, tear strength and rubbing fastness,
pigment dyeing is inferior to reactive dyeing. In terms of fabric tensile strength and washing fastness, both the dyeing
systems have comparable performance.

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Keywords: pigment dyeing; reactive dyes; cotton fabric; physical properties

Introduction
Cotton fabrics are most commonly dyed with reactive dyes.
Bright colors in wide shade range, good all-round fastness
properties and ease of application are some of the reasons
for the popularity of reactive dyes (Aspland, 1992b, 1993).
Despite their several advantages, reactive dyes still suffer from a limitation of hydrolysed dye formation during
dyeing, which must be removed by a subsequent thorough
wash-off treatment. A significant proportion of the total cost
of reactive dyeing is attributed to washing-off stages and
the treatment of the resulting effluents (Shamey & Hussain,
2005).
Pigments have been used for textile printing for many
decades (Aspland, 1992a). One of the advantages of pigment coloration is that the subsequent washing-off can be
avoided. Another possible advantage in dyeing with pigments is that some finishes may also be combined with
the dyeing process. Some of the disadvantages of pigment
dyeing include their poor build-up in dyeing in comparison
with reactive dyes, poor rubbing fastness properties, loss in
fabric tear strength and deterioration of fabric handle. The
problem of poor build-up is more marked in pigment dyeing
than in printing. Increasing the amount of pigment applied
does not necessarily produce a proportionate increase in
depth of color except for very light shades.
Since pigments have neither any affinity for the fibre
nor any chemical bonding, binders and cross-linkers have
to be used in pigment dyeing, which are major cause of
increased fabric stiffness, particularly for deep shades. The
most suitable method for pigment dyeing is pad-dry-cure,
the problem of migration during drying being an important consideration. In recent years, there has been much

improvement in the chemistry of pigments as well as the


binders and cross-linkers, which makes it worth consideration yet again for their application in dyeing. The objective
of this study was to compare a recently available pigment
dyeing system with a reactive dyeing system, and see how
far the former has come to compete with the latter.
Experimental
Dyeing
The fabric used in this study was 100% cotton 30 30/78
66, 106 g/m2 , desized by industrial pad-batch method
and scoured and bleached by industrial pad-steam method.
Samples of the bleached cotton fabric were dyed both with
pigment and reactive dye by pad-dry-cure method. The
amounts of dye and pigment were varied from 10, 20, 30,
40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 g/L and the recipes were prepared according to the manufacturers recommendations.
Helizarin Brilliant Red FF-GT pigment and auxiliaries for
pigment dyeing, namely Helizarin Binder ET ECO, Primasol FF-AM (anti-migrant agent) and Primasol NF (penetration accelerant and levelling agent) were provided by
BASF. Reactive dye, Cibacron Red P-4B and auxiliaries for
reactive dyeing, namely, Lyoprint RG (reduction inhibitor),
Irgapadol MP (migration inhibitor), Cibaflow PAD (penetration accelerant) and Cibacel DBC (dispersing agent,
calcium inactivation) were provided by CIBA. Soda ash
and urea used in reactive dyeing were of commercial grade.
Testing
The light fastness of dyed fabric samples was tested according to AATCC 16-2004 under a xenon arc lamp with the

Corresponding author. Email: tanveer@ntu.edu.pk; hussain.tanveer@gmail.com

ISSN 0040-5000 print / ISSN 1754-2340 online


C 2009 The Textile Institute
Copyright 
DOI: 10.1080/00405000701679590
http://www.informaworld.com

96

T. Hussain and R. Ali


Reactive dye

Reactive dye dry


Pigment dry

Pigment

3
2
1
0
10

20

30

40

50
60
70
Shade (g/L)

80

90

100

Rubbing fastness

Light fastness

Reactive dye wet


Pigment wet

4
3
2
1
0
10

AATCC blue wool Lightfastness standard. Washing fastness was determined according to AATCC 61-2006. The
dry and wet fastness to crocking was evaluated in accordance with AATCC 8-2005. Tear strength was measured in
the warp and weft direction in accordance with the procedure described in ASTM D1424-96. Fabric tensile strength
was measured in the warp and weft direction in accordance
with the procedures in ASTM D5034-95. The pilling rating
of the fabric specimens was determined in accordance with
ASTM D4970-02 using Nu-Martindale pilling tester. Stiffness values were determined in accordance with method described in ASTM D1388-96. Fabric crease recovery angle
was measured in the warp and weft direction in accordance
with procedure described in AATCC 66-2003.

20

30

40

50 60 70
Shade (g/L)

80

90

100

Figure 3. Comparison of rubbing fastness.

is equal for reactive dye and pigment at all shade depths.


Although light fastness of reactive dyes was found to be
poor in light shades in comparison to pigments (as given
above), there was no such inferiority in the case of washing
fastness.

Rubbing fastness
A comparison of rubbing fastness of fabric dyed with reactive dye and that with pigment is shown in Figure 3. It
can be noticed that both dry and wet rubbing fastness of
pigment are poor in comparison to reactive dye.

Results and discussion


Light fastness
A comparison of light fastness of fabric dyed with reactive
dye and that with pigment is shown in Figure 1. It is clear
that the overall light fastness of reactive dye is lower than
that of pigment, the difference being more evident at lower
dye concentrations. Light fastness obtained with pigment
is not only better but also more consistent than reactive dye
from light to deep shades.
Washing fastness
Figure 2 gives the comparison of washing fastness results
(staining to cotton). It is evident that the staining to cotton

Tear strength
As shown in Figure 4, the tear strength of the fabric dyed
with reactive dye stays almost same in the light and dark
shades whereas the tear strength of the fabric dyed with pigment decreases with increase in shade depth. The decrease
in tear strength with increasing depth of pigment can be
attributed to the higher amount of binder used for deeper
shades, which results in decrease in yarn slippage for consolidation during tearing.

Reactive dye weft


Pigment weft

Pigment

Tear strength (g)

Reactive dye

Staining to cotton

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Figure 1. Comparison of light fastness.

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
10

20

30

40

50
60
70
Shade (g/L)

80

90

100

Figure 2. Comparison of washing fastness (staining to cotton).

Reactive red warp


Pigment red warp

800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
10

20

30

40

50 60
70
Shade (g/L)

Figure 4. Comparison of tear strength.

80

90

100

The Journal of The Textile Institute

Tensile strength (Kg)

Reactive dye weft


Pigment weft

Reactive dye warp


Pigment warp

40
30
20
10
0
10

20

30

40

50 60 70
Shade (g/L)

80

90

Pigment

Pilling rating

A comparison of tensile strength of fabric dyed with reactive dye and that with pigment is shown in Figure 5. It can be
seen that there is no decreasing trend in the tensile strength
of the fabric dyed with either reactive dye or pigment. The
fabric tensile strength stays the same for light as well as
deep shades. Moreover, there is no significant difference of
tensile strength, either warp ways or weft ways, between
fabric dyed with reactive dye and that dyed with pigment.
Pilling
A comparison of pilling rating of fabric dyed with reactive dye and that with pigment is given in Figure 6. As
can be noticed, there is slight increase in pilling rating with
increase in reactive dye concentration, which can be attributed to cross-linking of cellulose molecules. However,
in the pigment dyeing, the pilling rating is significantly
improved with increase in shade depth. This increase may
be attributed to the increased amount of binder in deeper
pigment shades.

4
3
2
1

Fabric stiffness

0
10

20

30

40

50 60 70
Shade (g/L)

80

90

100

Figure 6. Comparison of pilling.


Reactive dye

Pigment

As shown in Figure 7, the fabric dyed with pigment has


higher stiffness as compared to that dyed with reactive dye.
There is a slight increasing trend in fabric stiffness with
increasing pigment concentration that can be attributed to
increased amount of binder.

Crease recovery angle


A comparison of crease recovery angle of the fabric dyed
with pigment and that dyed with reactive dye is given in
Figure 8. It is evident that the crease recovery angle of
fabric dyed with pigment decreases steadily as the shade
depth increases while there is no change in crease recovery
angle of fabric dyed with reactive dye in deeper shades.

Stiffness

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
10

20

30

40

50 60 70
Shade (g/L)

80

90

100

Figure 7. Comparison of stiffness.


Reactive dye weft
Pigment weft

Crease recovery angle

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Tensile strength

100

Figure 5. Comparison of tensile strength.


Reactive dye

97

Reactive dye warp


Pigment warp

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
10

20

30

40

50
60
70
Shade (g/L)

Figure 8. Comparison of crease recovery angle.

80

90

100

Conclusions
On the basis of the results given above, it can be concluded
that in terms of fabric stiffness, tear strength and rubbing
fastness, pigment dyeing is inferior to reactive dyeing. The
deterioration of physical properties of fabric is greater at
higher shade depth with pigment; however, there is no deterioration in desirable properties of fabric dyed with reactive
dye with increase in shade depth except in the case of light
fastness. In terms of light fastness and fabric pilling, pigment dyeing is superior to reactive dyeing while in terms of
tensile strength and washing fastness, there is no significant
difference between the two types of dyeing. While pigment
dyeing can be a good alternative to reactive dyeing for light
shades, some further improvements are still required in pigment dyeing system if it has to compete with reactive dyes
in deeper shades.

98

T. Hussain and R. Ali

Acknowledgement
The authors thank to BASF and CIBA for providing finishing
chemicals for this study.

References

Downloaded By: [PERI Pakistan] At: 08:31 7 September 2010

Aspland, J.R. (1993). Pigments as textile colorants: Pigmenting or


pigmentation. Textile Chemist and Colorist, 10, 3137.

Aspland, J.R. (1992a). Reactive dyes and their application. Textile


Chemist and Colorist, 5, 3136.
Aspland, J.R. (1992b). Practical application of reactive dyes. Textile Chemist and Colorist, 6, 3540.
Shamey, R., & Hussain, T. (2005). Critical solutions in the dyeing of cotton textile materials. Textile Progress, 372-(1/2),
184.

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