| With the emerging new market situations, textile auxiliary manufacturers are racing to come up with products that can satisfy the diverse needs of their customers |
Textile auxiliary manufacturers are facing testing times as the pressure for higher performance in textile wet processing, especially in textile dyeing, continues to increase.
Multiple challenges
The impact of the so-called "credit crunch" in North America and Europe is making business in the High Street tougher than ever as credit-strapped consumers seek out bargain value products.
As repeat orders for textile products become smaller there is even more pressure on textile dyers to ensure right-first-time, right-on-time, right-every-time dyeing with shade repeatability in repeat orders.
Textile auxiliaries are usually organic chemical based formulations derived from oil. The recent hike in oil prices to US$120 per barrel will inevitably increase raw materials costs, and the continuing rise in the cost of fuels – e.g. natural gas and electricity – will exert additional cost pressures.
As global transportation costs rise, there will be a move to introducing more concentrated products to decrease the cost of transporting water in less concentrated products. However, there will always be a trend in local markets to produce less concentrated products that may still be effective in wet processing, but offered at a more economic price.
The "greening" of chemical manufacture has led to calls in some quarters for oil-based products to be replaced by chemicals produced through sustainable agricultural sources. For example, the 27 countries of the European Union have committed to replacing 5.75% of gasoline by 2010 using biofuels such as bio-ethanol. However, this route may not be as "green" as it looks, because bioethanol requires twice as much water to produce it as ethanol produced from oil.
Aqueous resources
Populations in developing nations increase pressures on water sources for drinking, and in the case of agriculture, it will be in direct competition with the growing demands for water through the industrialization of these nations. Dyeing under low liquor ratio will thus become even more crucial than it is now, and this may require more concentrated auxiliaries that can be metered directly into the dyeing machine.
Dyeing auxiliaries that promote level dyeing, decrease total process cycle time and hence decrease treatment costs for water, steam, electricity etc, must also be eco-friendly and decrease effluent treatment costs. Innovation in auxiliaries for dyeing is important because increasingly these formulations allow dye-fiber systems to be chemically engineered to provide maximum levelness and colour fastness in the shortest possible processing time.
The appearance of fabric after dyeing must be uniform and crease-free. As the liquor ratio in jet dyeing machines decreases the inclusion of a dyebath crease inhibitor becomes mandatory.
Clariant recently introduced Imacol MPA liquid as a highly effective lubricant for 100% polyamide fibers, especially in microfiber form as well as for polyamide blends.
Imacol MPA liquid reduces fiber-fiber and fiber-metal friction and is highly effective over a wide temperature / pH range. This non-foaming auxiliary is very economic and does not impair shade or fastness properties.
Lyogen PA liquid, another new product from Clariant, is a low foaming cationic levelling agent for polyamide and polyamide that blends dyed with acid or metal-complex dyes. It can also be used for stripping / levelling up defective dyeings and for washing off polyamide printed fabrics. Lyogen PA liquid is designed to improve the dye distribution in the dyebath, control the exchange rate during heating up and promoting an even dye distribution during the migration phase at the boil. Lyogen PA liquid does not influence the dye fixation rate, nor does it exert any adverse effects upon the wet or light fastness.
New agent works with high-temperature dyeing
Rucogal ERQ, launched by Rudolf Chemie, is a low foaming levelling agent and dyeing accelerator for high temperature (HT) dyeing of polyester. Free of phthalate acid esters and of APEO or APEO derivatives, it offers strong diffusion-promoting properties in HT dyeing, especially for yarn dyeing in cheese form. It can be used for carrier and HT dyeings both in low liquor jet dyeing and also in beam dyeing. Improved dyestuff yield is a feature of the product, and even in rapid dyeing processes there is less dyestuff remaining in the wastewater from dyeing. It can also serves as levelling agent for automotive fabrics because it has no negative impact on the fogging values of the fabrics afterwards.
Rucolin RSO, also from Rudolf Chemie, is a lubricant and running crease inhibitor which has been formulated for use when dyeing cotton, regenerated cellulose or their blends with synthetic fibers with reactive, acid or disperse dyes. It can be used in all types of dyeing machinery and is also resistant to acids, alkalis and electrolytes in the usual application quantities, not sensitive to hard water and compatible with non-ionic or anionic products.
Color and wet fastness
Increasing standards of color fastness to wet treatments are now required for many dyed and printed polyamide fabric end-uses. Sera Fast N-HFN from DyStar is a strong post-treatment agent designed to improve the wet fastness of polyamide dyed and printed with acid, metal-complex and reactive dyes. Compared with standard products It may be used with lower application quantities.
Being anionic, Sera Fast N-HFN has a negligible impact on shade and no impact on fabric handle, as well as does not impair the color fastness to light. Chemically formulated to provide low-foaming properties, it can be applied on dyeing machines e.g. jets, in which there is high liquor turbulence. It imparts a slight improvement in color fastness to chlorinated water and ensures on-tone fading and less yellowing. It also complies with the criteria set by Oeko-Tex Standard 100.
Huntsman's dyes are used for various specialty fabrics. |
Huntsman Textile Effects introduced their PESquick concept, which provides high shade reproducibility combined with robust performance. It is an all-in-one wet process for polyester which is claimed to decrease overall production cost by 45%, cut water consumption by 60% and increase productivity by 30% without any further capital investment. All recommended components of the PESquick concept comply with Oeko Tex 100 standard requirements. Using Huntsman's Terasil SD or Terasil W-EL disperse dyes, the PESquick concept uses Univadine SD in the combined scour / dye treatment.
With an anionic-nonionic blend formulation, Univadine SD provides good scouring to remove spinning oils and lubricants. It is APEO-free and compatible with various dyestuffs in the dyebath.
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