Water droplets falling onto finished fabrics can create spots which can spoil the appearance of the fabric. This study compares the propensity of softened filament polylactic acid and polyester fabrics to exhibit the adverse affects of ‘water-spotting’, and to identify suitable softeners and methods for their application to minimise and eliminate the problem. The degree of water spotting was greater on softened polylactic acid fabrics than on softened polyester fabrics. Polylactic acid and polyester fabrics with hydrophobic properties did not exhibit any water spotting. Softeners applied by an exhaustion process resulted in a finished fabric which exhibited no water spotting for either dyed polylactic acid or dyed polyester fabrics. The softening active agent was not responsible for the water spotting. The other components in the softener formulation (such as emulsifier, wetting agent), which carries the unfixed dyes with water, were found to be responsible. The water spot halo disappeared after a single machine laundering process.

This paper addresses the relative effects of softeners having different properties and their method of application (exhaust vs pad) on the colour fastness of poly(lactic acid) fabrics dyed with a range of disperse dyes with different levels of hydrophobicity. A comparison was made with a correspondingly finished polyethylene terephthalate fabric. Possible relationships between the levels of hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of the dye, and softener, and the colour fastness were explored. Finally, the amount of dye thermally migrated into the finish on the softened poly(lactic acid) and polyethylene terephthalate fabrics was examined in comparison with their colour fastness. Softened poly(lactic acid) fabrics dyed with Cl Disperse Red 167.1 exhibited more thermal migration, and hence lower colour fastness, than the corresponding polyethylene terephthalate fabrics. Conversely, softened poly(lactic acid) fabrics dyed with Dianix Deep Red SF exhibited less thermal migration, and hence better colour fastness, than the corresponding polyethylene terephthalate fabrics. Overall, no clear relationship was found between the hydrophobic nature of the disperse dye and the hydrophobic character of the softener on the colour fastness.

One of the limitations of DyStar’s TTN one‐pass continuous dyeing process for dyeing polyester/unmercerised cotton blends with disperse and reactive dyes is its inability to achieve heavy depths economically and part 1 of this study indicated that the limitation could be attributed to the reactive dye [1]. In this study, the constituents of the pad liquor were varied to determine if the visual colour yield of selected reactive dyes could be improved. In so doing, it was possible to speculate whether the low colour yield from some of the reactive dyes used in the TTN process was as a result of inefficient ‘delivery’ of the dye to the reactive sites on the cotton.

In the continuous dyeing of polyester/cellulose blends, the trend over the last 20 years, towards shorter production runs and greater numbers of fashion shades, has led to the development of more productive processes, in particular, the use of a one-pass pad-dry-thermofix process for the application of disperse and reactive dyes. However, there are limitations to such a one-pass process, of which the most important is the limited colour depth that can be achieved on polyester/unmercerised cotton blends. The current study examines the reasons for this limitation, with a view to either modifying the dyeing process or designing superior dyes.

A short study has been conducted to examine the efficiency of different alkaline reduction-clearing conditions on Ingeo [poly(lactic acid)] fibres, dyed with disperse dyes. The results indicate that the preferred conditions are 15 min at 60 degrees C in the presence of 2 g/l sodium carbonate and 2 g/l 'hydros', conditions which avoid any significant change of shade by colour loss and lead to optimised wash fastness.

A study has been conducted to examine the effect of different preparation and dyeing processes on the physical strength of the Ingeo fibre component of an Ingeo fibre/cotton blend. An alkaline scouring process (for the cotton), followed by a two-bath, two-stage dyeing process in which the Ingeo fibre underwent a simulated dyeing with disperse dyes, followed by the cotton being dyed with reactive dyes, caused minimal deterioration to the strength of the Ingeo fibre, However, it is considered that problems might arise if the Ingeo fibre was subjected to prolonged dyeing times, particularly at neutral or alkaline pH, e.g. if an excessive number of shading additions needed to be carried out.