Acid wash / Random wash

At present times, the most popular denim garments are random washed among the
fashionable people. When solid washed the fading, effects are even and uniform in the
garments but when random washed effects are uneven.
                    

The first step of acid wash is rinse if needed then desized by enzyme (alpha amylase ) or by 
desizing chemicals according to the fabric of the garment. Then wash by cellulosic enzymes
if needed to bring abrasion effects. After that random wash procedures starts by making
potassium per manganate (KMnO4)or bleach ( NaOCl ) solution with required amount of
water or phosphorous acid and uneven effect making elements like stones, balls, towels and
thermopols. To bring random effects on garments must be wet so the garments should be
hydro extracted before throwing to the belly machine.

Various types of effects can be produced by following elements are given below:
1. Pumice Stones: Makes small fading effects like drop of pin point on the surface of the
garments.
2. Balls: circular and small line fading effects
3. Towels: big uneven fading effect like sweeping randomly
4. Thermopols: Random sized fading effect sometimes looks like lengthwise fading
 Acid Wash by Stones :
At first pumice stones must be soaked by solution of strong oxidizing agents like sodium
hypochlorite ( 5-10% ) (NaOCl) or potassium permanganate (KMnO4) (3-6% ). Excess
liquor is removed from the stones. Certain amount of treated stones and garments is dry
tumbled in the belly washing machine to bring the desired random effects on the garments is
called acid washing or snow washing or ice washing,
Stones can be treated by two ways like –
      1. Stones are taken into a net or mesh fabric and soaked into the solution then dried on air.
       2. An excess piece of fabric is placed into the belly machine, then stones are gathered on
the fabric and the solution is sprayed on those stones and run the machine for 2-3 mins by
tumbling to remove excess solution and also to mix them properly.

The soaked stones and wetted garments are loaded into the belly machine. According to the
desired fading effect, the machine is tumbled 2-10 mins. The degree of color fading depends
on the stone ratio, concentration of the chemicals, types of garments and dyestuff’s.  After
getting the desired effect, the garments are loaded on another machine for rinse for 3-4 mins.
As KMnO4 or NaOCl are hazardous chemical so neutralization is mandatory for further
processing. If KMnO4 is used then MnO2 is formed which leads to brown / orange tone and
must be removed by oxalic acid and if NaOCl is used then a reducing agent like sodium
bisulphite is used for neutralization. Finally the garment treated with softener, hydro
extracted and dried by dryer.
During Acid wash, pumic stones are used. By the action of pumic stones, irregular fading
affect is developed on the heavy garments like denims, thick canvas/twill, and sweater. The
pumic stones act a brushing action on the garment fabric surface. The area where more
brushing action takes place there more dicolour or fadding affect is developed and the area
where less brushing action takes place less brushing action and takes place less fadding
affect will be developed. The multi-layer fabric areas like –collar, calf, pocket, placket, side
seam etc area will be brushed more than the single layer areas. As a result irregular fadding
affect will be developed on the garments fabric surface. Thus in this way fading affect may
be developed on the garment by acid wash technique

Objects of Acid Wash:

1. To produce irregular fading effects or old looking effect.

2. For soft feeling to wear the garments i.e. to improve softness.
3. To achieve the buyer washing standard.
4. To increase rubbing fastness.

Acid washing:
Pumice stones are first presoaked in a solution of a strong oxidising agent (either sodium
hypochlorite (5–10%) or potassium permanganate (3–6%)) and are then applied to the
garments by means of dry tumbling. This results in a localised washing effect with clear
blue/white contrast. This technique is also termed ‘acid washing’, ‘snow washing’ or ‘ice
washing’.

After the stones are soaked in a strong oxidising agent such as sodium hypochlorite or
potassium permanganate, the excess liquor is removed. This can be accomplished by
placing stones in net or mesh fabric before soaking. Then the stones can be removed and
the excess liquor drained off. Another alternative is to place the stones in a rotary tumble
machine along with ‘waste’ fabric and tumbling for several minutes to remove the excess
solution. Another alternative is to use presoaked stones. There are many shapes, varying
levels of chemicals and other additives which produce different effects. After soaking the
stones, stones and denim garments are put into the machine for tumbling for 10–30 min or
until the desired effects are achieved. Results are dependent upon dyestuff, fabric,
concentration of chemicals, stones and equipment. In some cases, the stones can be reused
for another load before resoaking, depending upon their porosity. It is advantageous to
remove the denim garments from the machine and transfer them to another machine for
washing to minimise the number of machines used for acid washing.
After getting the desired effect, the machine is filled with water for rinsing for 5 min to remove
the stone dust. If potassium permanganate is used, manganese dioxide gets formed (a
brown/orange colour) and must be removed by rinsing with oxalic acid. In the case of sodium
hypochlorite, a reduction process, antichlor with a reducing agent (e.g. sodium bisulphite) is
used for removing the residual chlorine.

In acid washing, the addition of water is not required. The colour contrast after tumbling can
be further enhanced by a subsequent optical brightening process. Soft stones that dust off
easily are more suitable for this process.

What is Acid Wash?

Acid washing process was created in Italy and patented in 1986. Garments made from
heavy jeans and denim fabrics, course canvas, sweater and thick twill etc. are washed
by applying acid wash technique. By applying acid wash technique, irregular pattern
fading effect is produced in the garments, where the effects more pronounce than stone
wash. Acid wash is a very dirty process due to widely use of pumice stone.

All the above processes are discussed in the following:

1. Garments loading in machine:
It is the first process of acid wash. Required amount of garments are loaded in the
machine here for de-sizing the garments.
2. De-size:
The garments are de-sized here by using detergent and de-sizing agent. Required
amount of de-sizing agent should be applied here by following M: L ratio. Here,
sometimes needed 50-60° C temperature depends on the shade. De-size should be
done at least 15-20minutes.
3. Extracting the garments:
After completing de-sizing process, the garments are squeezed here by using hydro-
extractor machine and send to the drying section.
4. Drying:
Here the extracted garments are dried by using gas dryer or steam dryer depending on
the sahde. It should be noted here that, gas dryer is used for reddish shade and steam
dryer is used for bluish shade.
5. Soaking of pumice stone:
The fresh pumice stones are soaked here at room temperature for 10minutes by shuffling
using Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) and Phosphoric acid (H3PO4) containing the liquor
ratio 1:2. Pumice stones are naturally perforated and should pick up the solution very quickly.
6. Damp pumice stone:
After the required soaking of pumice stone, the completely dried de-sized garments are
treated in the machine with damp pumice stones at room temperature for 15 minutes
(depending on the shade). After completing this process, garments are unloaded from the
machine and loaded in another washing machine for neutralized the garments.
7. Neutralization the garments:
After completing damp pumice stone process, the garments must be neutralized here by
using Sodium meta-bisulphite (Na2S2O3) containing the liquor ratio (M: L) for 5minutes
(depending on the shade).
8. Softening:
Here the garments are producing too soft effect by using softening chemical containing liquor
ratio (M: L). After completing this process, garments are unloaded from the machine.
9. Extracting the garments:
Here the acid washed garments are extracted and send to the drying section.
10. Drying:
Finally the garments are drying here by using gas dryer or steam dryer depending on the
shade.
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