SOIL RELEASE

FINISHES

By

B. Venkatesh

Asst.Professor

Vignan’s University
 Introduction
Soil-release finishes on textiles facilitate the
removal of soils during laundering under common
household conditions
 Introduction
 Fabrics treated with soil-release  Industrial uniforms
finishes are particularly suited to
 napery are other market areas
 active wear where soil release is a
desirable product feature.
 leisure wear

Recent work has shown that soil release can even be incorporated

into yarn finishes

 comfort finish
 Fabrics with increased absorbency
 Other fabric properties that are provide garments that feel more
comfortable under
enhanced by soil-release finishes include
 hot,
 protection from soil redeposition during
 humid conditions,
laundering
 thus leading the name ‘comfort finish’

 and absorbency or transport of liquid  that has often been applied to

water fabrics treated with soil-release
agents.
 Mechanisms of soil release
1 -Adsorption of detergent and
absorption of water leading to:
 Rollup of oily soil
 Penetration of soil–fibre interface
by wash liquid
 Solubilisation and emulsification of
soils.
2 -Mechanical work leading to:
 Hydrodynamic flow carrying
away the removed soil
 Fibre flexing to force soil from
between fibres
 Surface abrasion to remove soil
physically
 Swelling of finish to reduce
inter-fibre spacing.
 Mechanisms of soil release
Particulate soil is removed from fibres by a two-step process.

 First, a thin layer of wash liquid penetrates between the particle

and the fibre surface,
Enabling surfactants to adsorb onto the particle surface (Fig.
7.1)
Then, the particle becomes solvated and is transported away from the
fibre and into the bulk of the wash liquid by
 mechanical action.

Finishes that are hydrophilic with low adhesion

 to soil under washing conditions should improve particulate soil
release.

For the most part however, the removal of particulate soils is determined
by
 detergent composition and mechanical action.
Oily soils that are liquids at wash temperatures are released by
a ‘roll up’ mechanism (Fig. 7.2),

if the surface free energies of the fibre and oil have the relationship
indicated by:

where R is the resultant force of the interfacial energies between

 the fibre and the oil ;

 the fibre and the wash liquid

 and the oil and the wash liquid,

Mechanisms of soil release

 Soil-release chemistry

Finishes providing soil release can be classified in

numerous ways, by

 Method of application,

by fibre type used with them,

 by chemical structure, electrical charge

Here, chemical structure will be used.

Soil-release chemistry
 POLYMER SOIL RELEASE

1. Carboxy-based finishes

2. Hydroxy-based finishes

3. Ethoxy-based finishes

4. Fluorine-based finishes

 Non-polymer soil-release treatments

 ¼: Carboxy-based finishes
 Some of the earliest carboxy-based finishes were
developed to be used
 in conjunction with durable press finishes
 on cotton and cotton blend fabrics.

 The first patent appeared in 1969.

 The composition of these finishes is based on

 acrylic and meth-acrylic acid and ester copolymers

(Fig. 7.4).

An ester to acid ratio of ~70:30

is typical.
This ratio seems to provide the proper
blend of hydrophilicity and oleophobicity
(hydrophilic–lipophilic balance, HLB)
required for a soil-release finish.
¼: Carboxy-based finishes

The HLB scale is often used for the

pre selection of surfactants and
 Ranges from about 0 (very
hydrophobic)
 to nearly 20 (very hydrophilic).
For good soilrelease performance,
HLB values of
 about 15 are favoured.

Greater hydrophilicity would

strongly reduce durability to
laundering.
These products are usually pad
applied in combination with
 DMDHEU crosslinkers
 and provide soil release by a
finish swelling mechanism (Fig.
7.5).
Often a monomer such as N-methylol
acrylamide that can react easily with
 DMDHEU during the finish curing step
is added for increased laundering
durability.
For these finishes to be effective, about
 2.5 % solids add-on of the soilrelease
polymer is necessary.
Other carboxy polymers that have been used
as soil-release finishes include
 styrene–maleic anhydride copolymers
 and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose
(Na-CMC).
 2/4: Hydroxy-based finishes
One of the earliest soil-release materials was
starch,

Other starch- and cellulose-based products that have been used as soil-
release agents include

1. methyl cellulose,
2. ethyl cellulose,
3. Hydroxy-propyl starch,
4. Hydroxy-ethyl cellulose,
5. Hydroxy-propyl-methyl cellulose
6. and hydrolysed cellulose acetates.

With some exceptions,these finishes

lack the laundering durability
desired in a finish expected to last the life of a garment
 and must be applied in combination with a binder or crosslinking agent
 ¾: Ethoxy-based finishes
A great variety of materials containing oxyethylene groups have been
offered as soil-release finishes.

These products may contain actual polyethylene blocks or ethylene

oxide reaction products with
 acids,
 alcohols,
 amines,
 phenols, etc.
Binding agents may or may not be required, depending on the durability of
the finish.
 ¾: Ethoxy-based finishes
 One important group of soil-release agents
for polyester fibres is based on

 condensation copolymers of terephthalic

acid with ethylene glycol and
polyethylene glycol
 ¾: Ethoxy-based finishes
The structure of this polyester–ether copolymer contains blocks of
Poly-ethylene terephthalate and poly-oxy-ethylene terephthalate
that provide a
structure that has regions of hydrophilicity
 interspersed with hydrophobic regions
 that have a strong attraction for the polyester
surface

These products can

provide extremely durable
soil-release properties for
polyester fabrics by either
exhaust or pad applications
with about 0.5 % solids add-
on. It is possible to
exhaust apply these products
during the dyeing process.
 4/4:Fluorine-based finishes
Attempting to use a fluorine-containing compound to impart
hydrophilicity to a fibre surface

An example of the chemical structure of a successful fluorine-based soil-

release compound is shown in Fig. 7.9 and classified as a hybrid

fluorocarbon of the block copolymer type.

 4/4:Fluorine-based finishes
These unique polymers have the unusual
property of being
 hydrophobic
 and oleophobic in air
 and hydrophilic
 and oil-releasing during the
laundering process.
This ‘dual action’ mechanism is illustrated in
Fig. 7.10.
The hydrophilic blocks are shielded by
the fluorocarbon segments when dry,
presenting a repellent surface.

After immersion in the wash bath,

 the hydrophilic blocks can swell
and actually reverse the interfacial
characteristics of the surface,
yielding the hydrophilic surface necessary
for oily soil release.
 4/4:Fluorine-based finishes

Typically, these modified fluoropolymers

Are
pad applied to fabrics in combination with
durable press cross linking agents to
increase the durability of the finish.

The higher cost of the fluorochemical soil

release agents compared to the acrylic
copolymers is somewhat compensated by
the low add-on (~0.5 % solids add-on)
required for soil-release performance.

Mixtures of both polymer types provide

a common compromise between efficiency
and costs
 Non-polymer soil-release
treatments
Alkali and plasma treatments of polyester
 generate a more hydrophilic fibre surface
 by forming new carboxyl and hydroxyl groups.

Under alkaline washing conditions

 the carboxyl structures become anionic carboxylate groups,
 giving rise to high electrostatic repulsion of the negatively charged soil
particles
 both in pure form
 and those enclosed in anionic surfactant micelles.
 Evaluation of soil release
The American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists
(AATCC) has developed standardized procedures for evaluating soil-release
finishes that provide a strong indication of the actual finish performance in the
real world.
Good finish development procedures should always include
some testing with the actual soils and
detergents likely to be encountered by the consumer.

Evaluation of soil-release effects after washing is mostly visually done by

comparison with photographic standards,
but also by reflectance measurements
and other instrumental techniques, including microscopy.
Reflectance data using the Kubelka–Munk equation
correlate fairly with the oily soil content
but not with residual particulate soil
(which is probably partly buried within the fabric and shielded from the light
path)
Oily soil-release testing AATCC Test Method 130
A measured amount of corn oil is specifies all the parameters that
placed on the fabric to be strongly influence soil
tested and pressed into the fabric release of oily soils.
with a specified force.
The soiled fabric is washed After tumble drying and
with a standardised detergent under equilibration, the
specific conditions of water stained fabric is compared to
temperature and photographic standards and rated
time in a specified washing machine. accordingly
Fordurability testing,
the fabrics are washed prior to staining in accordance with
AATCC Test Method 124.
Soil reposition AATCC Test Method 151
The fabrics to be tested are exposed can be used to estimate the degree
to a soiling medium (two dry soils and of soil redeposition
fabric swatches pretreated with a likely to occur during laundering.
standard oily soil)
during a laundering simulation with a
standard detergent.
The change in reflectance
of the fabric before and after the
testing is an indication of the
redeposition
potential of the fabric.
Moisture transport
Typically,
near instantaneous wetting of the
fabric with water ( < 1 s) is expected
from nonfluorine-
containing soil-release finishes.
AATCC Test Method 79
to determine
the degree of absorbency of fabrics
finished with soil-release
agentsduring laundering.

Too little
crosslinking and the soil-release finish is not durable to multiple launderings;

too much crosslinking and the finish cannot swell as much as is needed for
adequate
soil release.