Softeners

Dr Saira Faisal
Assistant professor
Textile Engineering Department
Softening
• As a general rule, each fibre has its specific softness value, which
depends on its chemical composition and physical structure
(less crystallinity = greater softness).
• The fineness of the fibre or of the filament directly affects the softness of
the yarn (woollens, worsteds, microfibres etc.).

Dr Saira Faisal
• The yarn twist ratio is inversely proportional to its softness.
• The weave also contributes to reducing (closer weave = cloth) or
increasing (looser weave = satin) the fabric softness.
• Furthermore, a greater number of yarns per centimetre increase the
stiffness of the fabric, thus reducing its softness.
• Softening is carried out when the softness characteristics of a certain
fabric must be improved, always carefully considering the composition
and properties of the substrate. 2
Softening Finishes
• An auxiliary that, when applied to textile materials,
brings about an alteration in ‘handle’, resulting in the
goods being more pleasing to the touch.
• Softening finishes are among the most important class of

Dr Saira Faisal
chemical finishes
• They improve;
• Textile softness, (supple, pliant, sleek and fluffy),
• Smoothness and hand feel,
• Fiber lubricity, flexibility, elasticity, pliability, drape, fullness and
processability. 3
Softeners are predominantly used for textiles
• to apply the desired softness
• Such as smooth, supple, supersoft, elastic, dry, slushy
• to influence/improve technical properties
• such as antistatic, hydrophilicity, elasticity, sewability,

Dr Saira Faisal
rubfastness
• and to give synthetic fibres a certain
• ‘natural touch’ and
• enhance the comfort of wearing by promoting secondary
effects (moisture regulation, smoothness).
• Furthermore softeners are needed as processing aids for
• raising, sanforising, sewing or rewinding of yarns. 4
Textile Softeners
• The textile softeners typically include mainly surfactants and
polymers, and can easily applied via padding or exhaustion
process.
• Estimated use of softener by class:

Dr Saira Faisal
Class % usage
Cationic 35 – 40 %
Anionic 8 – 10 %
Non-ionic 40 – 45 %
Amphoteric Small portion
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Softeners are predominantly used for textiles
• Textile Softeners often have a multifunctional nature.
• They can improve;
• abrasion and soiling resistance, crease recovery, static protection;

Dr Saira Faisal
increase tearing strength and stretch;
• They can reduce;
• piling, color fastness, moisture absorbency, flammability, sewing
thread breakage and needle cutting when the garment is sewn

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Textile softeners must fulfil a large number of requirements

• simple handling - liquid, dosable, stable, pre-dilutable;

• stable to high temperatures, not steam volatile;
• no influence on fastnesses,
• no colour changes;
• low foaming, shear stable, no roller deposits;

Dr Saira Faisal
• exhaust processes - uniform and total exhaustion of application liquor;
• non-toxic to humans or to the environment;
• no restrictions concerning transport and storage;
• compatible with other auxiliaries;
• non-yellowing;
• dermatologically harmless;
• good biodegradability; 7
• good price-performance relationship.
 Surfactants

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Chemistry of Textile Softeners
Salts of primary amines

Cationic Salts of tertiary amines

Quaternary ammonium salts
Salts of amino amides

Anionic Sulfated or sulfonated

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oils
Softener Non-ionic Ethoxylates

Polymer Softeners Silicones

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Polyethylene
Cationic Softeners
• Cationic softeners have
• high substantivity to most fibers, particularly the natural fibers,
such as cotton
• They are more effective than other surfactants in terms of;

Dr Saira Faisal
• Exhaustion yield
• Low does softening efficiency and
• relative wash fastness
• They are more compatible with most resin finishes.
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Cationic Softeners
• They are not effective for hydrophobic fibers, due to the poor
substantivity.
• The main disadvantages of cationic softeners are;

Dr Saira Faisal
• Incompatibility to anionic auxillaries
• Yellowing fabrics
• Affecting dye shades and fastness and
• Soiling fabrics

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Cationic Softeners
• Salts of primary amines:
These have the general formula
RNH2.HX

Dr Saira Faisal
where
R = alkyl (hydrophobic chain),
X = chloride, acetate, glycolate
• A typical representative of this group is octadecyl ammonium
chloride.
• This group is relatively unimportant for textile operations due to
their poor solubility. 12
Application
• An exhaustion finishing process at neutral to slightly acidic pH
is often preferred for uniform distribution of cationic
surfactants on the fibers, due to their high adsorption efficiency
to the negatively charged fibers.

Dr Saira Faisal
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Mechanism of Fabric Softeners
• The physical arrangement of
the usual softener molecules
on the fibre surface is
important.

Dr Saira Faisal
• It depends on;
• the ionic nature of the
softener molecule and
• the relative hydrophobicity
of the fibre surface.
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Mechanism of Cationic Softeners
• Cationic softeners orient
themselves with their
positively charged ends
toward the partially

Dr Saira Faisal
negatively charged fibre,
creating a new surface of
hydrophobic carbon chains
that provide the
characteristic excellent
softening and lubricity seen
with cationic softeners. 15
Mechanism of Cationic Softeners
• Cationic Softener lowers the
fiber-to-fiber friction.
• Cationic vesicles in water are
adsorbed to the surfaces of the
fibers, which are electrostatically
negatively charged.

Dr Saira Faisal
• During the drying process,
vesicles collapse and the fiber
surfaces are covered by layers of
the hydrophobic alkyl chains that
have low surface energies in air.
• this process causes a reduction in
friction between fibers, leaving
cotton clothes softened.
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Anionic Softeners
• Anionic surfactants are;
• more stable with good yellowing resistant,
• Good rewetting agents

Dr Saira Faisal
• Anionic softeners retain their hydrophilicity and used for
moisture management fabrics where water wicking is
important
• Often used with starch based size, it promotes penetration of
starch and therefore increase fiber elasticity, flexibility and 17
weaving efficiency.
Anionic Softeners
• Use of anionic softeners is limited in textiles due to;
• their low substantivity
• poor wash fastness

Dr Saira Faisal
• incompatibility with resin finishes and cationic
axillaries
• inferior softening properties and
• higher does are required for desired softness (due to
low adsorption to the fiber or poor exhaustion yields 18
Mechanism of Anionic Softeners
• Anionic softeners orient
themselves with their
negatively charged ends
repelled away from the

Dr Saira Faisal
negatively charged fibre
surface. This leads to
higher hydrophilicity, but
less softening than with
cationic softeners.
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Non-ionic Softeners
• Non-ionic softeners have no electric charge and for that
reason show no significant substantivity.
• They provide good softness and lubricating and

Dr Saira Faisal
antistatic benefits
• They are more resistant to yellowing, therefore, used
for optically-brightened white textiles.
• Most compatible to most textile auxiliaries and do not
affect dye shades 20
Non-ionic Softeners
• They have low wash fastness due to the low substantivity to
most fibres
• Higher concentrations are required for desired softness

Dr Saira Faisal
• Non-ionic softeners are rarely used alone
• They are extensively used in combination with cationic
softeners and/or other textile auxiliaries.

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Mechanism of non-ionic Softeners
• The orientation of non-ionic
softeners depends on the
nature of the fibre surface,

Dr Saira Faisal
with the hydrophilic portion
of the softener being attracted
to hydrophilic surfaces and
the hydrophobic portion
being attracted to
hydrophobic surfaces. 22
Ethoxylated
• The ethoxylated portion imparts water solubility and
remains a neutral molecule when in water, so is non-
ionic.

Dr Saira Faisal
• The ones that are oils will develop a pliable hand while
those that are semisolid waxes will not noticeably affect
the hand at all. These softeners are also used when re-
wetting is desirable.

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Polyethylene Softeners
• They have little effect on fabric hand because they are
semisolid materials at ambient temperatures.
• However, at elevated temperature, they melt and become

Dr Saira Faisal
good lubricants.
• This condition occurs when fabrics are subjected to
frictional heating, so polyethylene is widely used
whenever protection against abrasive forces, tearing
forces and cutting and sewing is needed.
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Silicones
• Silicones are the most extensively used polymer softeners that
account for 20-25% of textile softener market.
• The silicones have superior;
• softening properties

Dr Saira Faisal
• Good wash fastness
• Stability (thermal and oxidative) and
• Wrinkle resistant properties
• They also improve tear, abrasion and wear strength, sew
ability, water repellency and processability of fibers/fabrics.
• They are costly which limit their use in textiles 25
Silicones
• In the case of cellulose, wool, silk and polyamide fibres, there are
strong hydrogen bonds between the hydroxyl or amino groups of the
fibres and the amino groups of the modified silicones.
• These bonds act as an anchor for the silicone, which forms an evenly

Dr Saira Faisal
distributed film on the fibre surface.
• Good water repellency and very soft hand are the result. With an
optimal content of amino side groups, the polysiloxane segments
between the anchor sites are long enough to maintain their high
flexibility.
• This is the main reason for the softness and the lubricating effect of
amino functional silicones on polar fibres. 26
Silicone Softeners Classification
• ① Hydroxy silicone oil
② Amino Silicone oil
③ Epoxy silicone softener
④ Hydrophilic silicone softeners

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Mechanism of Silicon Softeners
• Amino groups (especially primary
amino groups, as they occur in
aminoethyaminopropylsilicones)
are strongly prone to hydrogen
bonding. They also can easily be
protonated resulting in charged
groups.

Dr Saira Faisal
• Thus they strongly interact with
cellulose or with other appropriate
surfaces such as human hair,
carrying -OH and/or other
hydrogen bonding groups and
having negative zeta-potential.
• The interaction of aminosilicones
with hydrophobic fibres such as
polyester is more hydrophobic in
nature and much weaker
altogether. 28
Important softener characteristics

Dr Saira Faisal
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