Development History of Textile Silicone Oil

First generation silicone softener:

In 1940, people began to try to impregnate fabrics with dimethyldichlorosilane, and obtained some kind of waterproof effect. In 1945, Elliott and others of General Electric Company (GE) of the United States soaked the fiber in an alkaline aqueous solution with sodium methylsiliconate, and heated the fiber to make the fiber have a good waterproof effect.

In the early 1950s, Dow Corning Corporation of the United States found that the treatment of fabrics with polysiloxane containing Si-H structure has good waterproof effect and good air permeability, but the hand feel is poor and the silicone film is hard, brittle and easy to fall off. Combined with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), it not only has a good waterproof effect, but also has a soft hand. Since then, despite the rapid development of silicone products in various countries in the world, there are many types of products, but they are basically mechanical mixtures of dimethyl silicone oil, collectively referred to as silicone oil-based products, which are the first generation of silicone fabric softeners.

The first-generation silicone softener directly emulsifies the silicone oil by mechanical emulsification, but because the silicone oil itself does not contain active groups, the combination with the fabric is not strong enough, and it is not resistant to washing, and the effect of single use is not ideal.

Second generation silicone softener:

In order to overcome the shortcomings of the first generation of silicone softeners, researchers discovered the second generation of silicone emulsions with hydroxyl caps. The softener is mainly a hydroxyl silicone oil emulsion and a hydrogen-containing silicone oil emulsion, which can form a network cross-linked structure on the surface of the fabric in the presence of a metal catalyst, so that the fabric has good softness, washing resistance and stability.

However, due to the problems of single function and easy demulsification and oil leaching in use, it was replaced by the third-generation silicone softener before it was widely used.

The third generation of silicone softener:

The third-generation silicone softener is a type of softener that has emerged and developed the fastest in recent years. This type of product is developed by introducing other segments or active groups into the main chain or side chain of polysiloxane, such as Polyether group, epoxy group, alcohol hydroxyl group, amino group, carboxyl group, ester group, mercapto group and other groups can greatly improve the softness and comprehensive performance of the fabric, and rely on different groups to give the fabric different styles.

However, the third-generation silicone softener generally needs to be compounded with monofunctional polysiloxane to achieve the desired treatment effect. The compounding ratio is not easy to grasp, which has a great impact on production and application.

The third generation of silicone softener:

The fourth-generation silicone softener is based on the finishing effect required by the fabric, and the third-generation silicone softener has been further modified to introduce more active groups, which can meet the processing needs of all aspects of the fabric without compounding.

The fabrics treated by the modified silicone softener with various active groups are greatly improved in terms of softness, washing resistance, elasticity and hydrophilicity. Demand has become the mainstream direction of the current development of silicone softeners.