Soil release finishes

Fabrics treated with soil-release finishes are particularly suited to active wear and leisure wear, markets that are continuing to grow in importance. Industrial uniforms and napery are other market areas where soil release is a desirable product feature. Recent work has shown that soil release can even be incorporated into yam finishes.  

Other fabric properties that are enhanced by soil-release finishes include protection from soil redeposition during laundering and absorbency or transport of liquid water. Fabrics with increased absorbency provide garments that feel more comfortable under hot, humid conditions, thus leading the name comfort finish that has often been applied to fabrics treated with soil-release agents. 

The major finishes for polyester fibers include photoprotective agents and antioxidants, antistatic agents, soil release finishes, antipilling finishes, and flame retardant finishes. Many of these chemicals can be added to the polymer melt prior to spinning. The finishes can also be added topically during dyeing and finishing. 

Photoprotective Finishes and Antioxidants Compounds that are used to stabilize polyesters against heat- and/or light-induced oxidative attack are similar to those used for nylon and other synthetics. They include metal salts as well as benzotrizoles, benophenones, and hindered phenols. 

Antistatic Finishes Owing to its hydrophobicity, polyester builds up static charge readily. Finishes have been developed for polyester that increase the hydrophilicity and ionic character of the fiber and permit more ready dissipation of static charge from the fiber surface. These treatments include lauryl phosphate, morpholine, various polyethylene glycols, organosilicones, and polyamine resins. 

Soil Release Finishes Owing to its combined hydrophobic and oleophilic character, polyester is soiled readily by oily soils. If these soils penetrate into the fiber, they are difficult to remove by laundering. In order to improve the removal of oily soils from polyester, oil repelling soil release finishes have been developed to limit the penetration of oily soils into the fiber, thereby making their removal easier during laundering. Perfluoroalkylamides and other fluorocarbon derivatives have been 

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Essentially nonionic soil-release agents comprise polyesters, polyamides, polyurethanes, polyepoxides and polyacetals. These have been used mainly on polyester and polyester/ cellulosic fabrics, either crosslinked to effect insolubilisation (if necessary) or by surface adsorption at relatively low temperature. Polyester soil-release finishes have been most important, particularly for polyester fibres and their blends with cellulosic fibres. These finishes, however, have much lower relative molecular mass (1000 to 100 000) than polyester fibres and hence contain a greater proportion of hydrophilic hydroxy groups. They have been particularly useful for application in laundering processes. These essentially nonionic polymers may be given anionic character by copolymerising with, for example, the carboxylated polymers mentioned earlier these hybrid types are generally applied with durable press finishes. 

Textiles. Sorbitol sequesters iron and copper ions in strongly alkaline textile bleaching or scouring solutions (see Textiles). In compositions for conferring permanent wash-and-wear properties on cotton fabrics, sorbitol is a scavenger for unreacted formaldehyde (252) and a plasticizer in soil-resistant and soil-release finishes (253). 

Greying during washing Combination with soil-release finishes... 

The colour of the treated and stained fabric cannot be ignored. Very dark fabrics and very light fabrics can appear to have less soil simply from optical effects. Table 7.2 gives an overview on the chemical mechanisms of soil-release finishing. 

The procedure given in AATCC Test Method 79 can also be used to determine the degree of absorbency of fabrics finished with soil-release agents. Typically, near instantaneous wetting of the fabric with water (< 1 s) is expected from nonfluorine-containing soil-release finishes. 

The performance of a soil-release finish depends upon its ability to provide a hydrophilic surface during the laundering process. Therefore any material deposited on the fibre surface that would reduce this necessary hydrophilicity should be avoided. Softeners, lubricants and other products that modify surface properties should be carefully investigated in laboratory trials before being used with fabrics treated with soil-release finishes. 

The relative amounts of the binders and crosslinkers applied in conjunction with acrylic copolymer soil-release compounds must be carefully determined. 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. 

Cooke T F, Soil release finishes for fibres and fabrics , Textile Chemist and Colorist, 1987,19(1), 31 1. 

Pailthrope M and David S K, Antistatic and soil release finishes , in Textile Finishing, Heywood D (ed.), Bradford, Society of Dyers and Colourists, 2003, 330. 

Almost no effect Soil-release finishes Antistatics, if not softening and smoothing Finishes to improve colour fastness Finishes for protection from UV or insects Antimicrobial finishes... 

PERAPRET D and PERAPRET DS are anionic polyacrylate dispersions with low viscosity. They have a solids content of approx. 25% and a pH of 2-3. They are both used to facilitate the removal of soil from textiles, particularly blends of cellulosic and synthetic fibres, under normal conditions of household washing. They are, therefore, applied as additives in soil-release finishing. The treating liquor must, of course, only contain products that do not impair this desired effect. 

SILIGEN E does not impair soil-release finishes. 

SIbIGEN Wb is particularly suitable for use as smoothing agent for yarns. It is also used as bath stabilizer and handlemodifying component in soil-release finishing with PERAPRET D and PERAPRET DS. 

CNC QUIKSET is a special catalyst for use in the SUPERKLEEN Plus system. This accelerator is one of the key components to be used in conjunction with SUPERKLEEN, SUPERKLEEN EXTENDER and CNC REZ REACTANT for one-bath soil-release finishes. 

Soil release finish. Typically applied in the dyebath, HYDRELEASE ADL aids in the removal and prevents redeposition of oils and soil during processing as well as imparts soil release properties to the finished goods. 

Zelcon . [DuPtmt] Fabric conditioner, soil release, finish for polyester. 

The fabrics used in this study were prepared by the Southern Regional Lab especially for the 13 states involved in the S-163 Project. They Include 100% cotton, 100% polyester, and a 50/50 cotton/polyester blend. Fabrics are print cloth, woven construction, with a thread count of 70W x 78F, 3.5 ounce per square yard. All fabrics were wet finished and heat set. A durable press finish (DMDHEU) was applied to cotton and cotton/polyester fabrics. A water repellent fluorocarbon finish (Corpel) and an acrylic acid soil-release finish were applied to all three types of fabrics. Our preliminary findings for the AATCC spray test are reported here. 

Polymethacrylic acid CAS 25087-26-7 Synonyms PMAA Classification Polymer Empirical (C4He02)x Formula [CHzCCHaCOOHlx Uses Dispersant for pigments and fillers in ceramics, polymerization dispersant in boiler water treatment cement grinding aid textile soil-release finishes rayon textile sizing agent stabilizer for PVC suspension prod. vise, control agent in cosmetics Manuf./Distrib. Al co... 

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