Common problems of silicone softener application

Natural fibers such as cotton, hemp, wool, silk and so on after bleaching, dyeing, printing processing or functional finishing, due to the removal of wax and oil so that the fiber is damaged to a certain extent, the fabric becomes more rough, luster darkened, and even affect the sewing performance, so it needs to be soft finishing. The feel of synthetic fiber is worse than that of natural fiber such as cotton, wool, silk and hemp. After the high temperature setting, the feel of synthetic fiber fabric becomes very rough and hard. Only through soft finishing can the soft feel of natural fiber be given to the fabric to improve its performance.

Silicone softener can give the fabric soft and smooth, plump and elastic feel, as well as wrinkle-proof, wear-resistant, washable and good sewing characteristics, to a large extent, improve the added value of the product, thus favored by the majority of customers; However, in the process of soft finishing, defects such as silicone oil spots often occur, which brings great trouble to dyeing and finishing.

In this paper, the causes, preventive measures and solutions of the common defects in the use of softeners are described.

Classification of softeners

Softeners can be roughly divided into fatty acid derivatives and silicone two categories.

Fatty acid derivatives are traditionally widely used softeners, while organosilicones are the new ones. Silicone softeners are developing rapidly, and new products with various properties and functions are constantly being developed and marketed.

Silicone softener is not only better than fatty acid derivative softener, but also has good durability, so in the use of textile soft finishing, has a dominant position. However, it is because of its good durability that it is difficult to remove the dye, making it difficult to repair or repair the dye. If the silicone oil spot is more headache, it is difficult to repair.

Silicone softeners, in ionic properties, mostly cationic, weak cationic or non-ionic. So in the production and processing often with fixing agent bath treatment, treatment bath temperature is generally 30 ~ 45℃. Do not wash after soft processing, after baking its reaction into film fastness is higher. If the operation is not appropriate, silicone softeners are prone to demulsification and oil bleaching problems. Some of them need to be processed on the dyeing machine, such as garments, yarns, loose fibers, and softeners in the dye VAT after dyeing. After a long time, residues of organic silicon substances in the equipment are easy to occur. It is more difficult to remove and repair than fatty acid derivative softeners.

Silicone water solubility is poor, in the use of dyeing and finishing processing must be emulsified before use. In order to increase the water-solubility of silicone oil, some silicone oil is added with some self-emulsifying agent, so that it has self-emulsifying function in water. Therefore, if you do not grasp the properties and characteristics of silicone oil in use, serious violation of the requirements of the technical conditions, there will be demulsification bleaching oil produced silicone oil spots and other problems.

Characteristics and characteristics of silicone softener

The suitable working conditions and physical and chemical characteristics of silicone softener can be summarized as the following three points:

1. The pH value of the working bath is stable between 5 and 6.5;

2. The most suitable temperature for working bath is 30 ~ 45℃;

3. Ionic, most varieties are cationic, followed by non-ionic; There are a few varieties for the anion type (compare the soft effect of various varieties, cationic type is generally dominant).