Soaping agent evaluation – removal of hydrolyzed dye from fabric

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Testing Method
Soaping agent evaluation – removal of hydrolyzed dye from fabric and blocking the movement of
hydrolyzed dye from bath, back to substrate.

Fastness improvement
Hydrolyzed and un‐reacted reactive dyestuff left over in the inner core of fiber and especially on the
surface of the fiber leads to poor results of washing fastness as well as contact fastness. Fastness
improvement can be achieved by time consuming and costly operation of washing and removing of
unwanted (unfixed) dyestuff.

Philosophy
Fabric padded with hydrolyzed reactive dye is treated in a test bath with white cotton woven/knitted
fabric at different conditions. Dye removed from padded fabric, staining on the white fabric and color of
the bath are observed for assessing the performance of soaping agent.

Bleached cotton fabric is padded with hydrolyzed reactive dye hydrolysate (= basic fabric). This basic fabric
is soaped together with bleached cotton fabric (= adjacent fabric I). After soaping the adjacent fabric I is
removed and the basic fabric is soaped again with a fresh adjacent fabric (= adjacent fabric II).

The effectiveness of soaping auxiliaries is determined with this test method by removing hydrolyzed
reactive dye from the fabric inner core and surface.

The staining of adjacent fabric I and II as well as the removal of the dye hydrolysate of the basic fabric at
different condition of water hardness, is a measure for the affectivity of the soaping agent. The brighter
the basic fabric and the adjacent fabrics are after soaping the higher is the affectivity of the soaping agent.

Preparation of stock solution of hydrolyzed dye:

‐ 50 g/l Reactive dyestuff
o C. I. Reactive Red 120
o C. I. Reactive Red 141 and
o C. I. Reactive Blue 21

Reflux for 4 hours

Neutralize with 10 % HCl (approx. 70 ml/l)

Preparation of “hydrolyzed dyed test fabric specimen”:

1‐ Pad the fabric with 25% solution of hydrolyzed dye solution prepared above.
2‐ Liquor pick‐up – 80 %
3‐ Dry the padded fabric at 120 oC for 5 min.

Materials and Reagents:

i. Fabric 100 % cotton woven/knitted, bleached without OBA
ii. Equipment Ahiba‐Nuance or equivalent lab dyeing machine

S. Pervez Abbas – Jan. 2015

 Soaping agent evaluation – removal of hydrolyzed dye from fabric
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iii. Water 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 odH (German hardness),

iv. soda ash
v. Sodium chloride
vi. Hydrolyzed reactive dyestuff and
vii. soaping agent

Assessment
Observe the “test specimen”, adjacent fabric and the color of the bath liquor.
Soaping agent shows an excellent soaping behavior if;
 the adjacent fabric is not or slightly stained
 more dye is removed from “test specimen” – the test specimen is lighter
 soaping bath is dark

Test procedure

 Lab equipment Ahiba‐Nuance or equivalent lab dyeing machine

 Liquor ratio 1:20
 Temperature Test temperature 70 oC and 98 oC
 Temp. increment (rise) 3 oC/min
 Time 20 min

Soaping process
 Soaping 1 basic fabric (padded with hydrolyzed dye): adjacent fabric
ratio: 1 : 1 (basic fabric and adjacent should be 1 : 1)
short rinsing of adjacent fabric 1 and basic fabric
basic fabric is soaped again as soaping 2
 Soaping 2 already soaped fabric basic fabric : adjacent fabric 2
ratio: 1 : 1
short rinsing of adjacent fabric 2 and basic fabric already soaped
drying

Auxiliaries Application amount 1 2 3 4 5 6

Soda Ash g/l 0.0 2.0 0.0 2.0 0.0 2.0
Sodium chloride g/l 0.0 0.0 5.0 5.0 0.0 0.0
Soaping agent – Chem. 1 g/l 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0
Soaping agent – Chem. 2 g/l 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

S. Pervez Abbas – Jan. 2015

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Auxiliaries Application amount 7 9 8 9 10 11

Soda Ash g/l 0.0 2.0 0.0 2.0 0.0 2.0
Sodium chloride g/l 5.0 5.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 5.0
Soaping agent – Chem. 1 g/l 1.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Soaping agent – Chem. 2 g/l 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Note: Bath No. 1 is “reference blank” test fabric treated in same condition.

 Perform the test for 20 min at 70 oC and 98 oC

 Cool down to 60 oC with 3 oC/min
 Take out a sample 60 oC from lab dyeing machine and rinse for 5 min under cold water
 Dry the sample and judge for staining
Note:
 Perform the test with 2 g/l of soaping agent in the same sequence
 Test should be performed with soaping agents with different chemistries, so as to study the
behavior of soaping chemistry and the dyestuff chemistry

Perform the above test with different quality of water, with and without soda ash.

Results
i. Sensitivity of soaping agent towards water hardness
ii. Sensitivity of soaping agent towards soda ash
iii. Dispersing and dye removal power
iv. Removal of hydrolyzed dye from the fabric – “ test spacemen”
v. Staining of fabric

S. Pervez Abbas – Jan. 2015