Classification And Properties Of Softeners(1)

Classification And Properties Of Softeners(1)

In order to make the fabric with a soft, smooth or rich feel, most fabrics are finished with softener in addition to the use of mechanical finishing.

Function Of Softener

• Supplement natural fiber in the refining, bleaching and other processes lost in the natural oil to the feel is more desirable.

• Attached to natural or synthetic fibers to improve the smoothness ,strength, and the feel.

• Through the softener has certain characteristics to improve the fabric's taking properties.

In order to achieve some of these effects, softeners are generally grease-like smoothness and rich feel of the substance attached to the fiber surface, which can reduce the friction resistance between the fibers so that the fibers can be lubricious and soft .Some softeners can also be cross-linked with some reactive groups on the fiber to achieve the purpose of washing resistance.

The Requirements Of the Softener

• The working fluid should be very stable under various soft processing conditions.

• Does not reduce the whiteness of the fiber or fabric and dyeing fastness when using.

• Fibers or fabrics after soft processing is not easy to discolor when heating, and there will be no changes in color, feel and smell in the storage process .

• If the softener is an emulsion, its emulsion stability should be good.

• According to different processing requirements, there will be appropriate water absorption or dial water, anti-static properties (should be selected according to the different requirements of the fabric), with water washing resistance or dry cleaning resistance.

• No adverse effects after human skin contact.

Due to the wide variety of textiles, the use of different fibers, and different fabric specifications, different fabric uses, finishing requirements are different, so the choice of softener can not be generalized, rather,it should be based on the softness mechanism and function of various types of softener to meet the requirements. In addition, each softener always has a limited performance, so you can use two or more softener compound (or compounded into a new softener products) to obtain great performance. For example, silicone softener and long-chain aliphatic softener compounding applications, can get a softer, richer and smoother feel. Do remember to combine the application of softener and mechanical soft finishing together, and it can get very good results.

Types Of Softener

Softener is the largest variety of dyeing and finishing auxiliaries, the largest amount of a class of additives. It is reported that the Shanghai Institute of Printing and Dyeing Technology in the 1990-1999 collection of 920 domestic and foreign samples of auxiliaries, softeners have 350, accounting for 38%. So many varieties of softener, according to its chemical structure, basically long-chain aliphatic class or polymer class. Long-chain aliphatic class softener molecular structure of hydrocarbon long chain can be irregularly arranged curl state, the formation of molecular flexibility, the flexibility of the molecules adsorbed in the fiber surface to play the role of lubrication, reducing the dynamic and static friction coefficient of fibers and fibers.

Therefore, the long-chain aliphatic class structure generally have a good softening effect, not only in the softener variety, but also a large amount. This type of softener according to its ionic nature can be divided into anionic, cationic, non-ionic and amphoteric. In addition, for natural oils and paraffin-like softener, because they are natural lubricating substances,it can also be used as a separate category. Polymer-based softeners are mainly polyethylene and silicone two categories. Polyethylene class softener variety is relatively single, the amount is also less, so the use of silicone softener is more frequent. As the main chain of polysiloxane is very easy to flex the helical straight chain structure, which can rotate freely 360 degrees, the energy required for rotation is almost zero. Therefore, the molecular structure of polysiloxane alone is in line with the soft mechanism of textiles, not only can reduce the static and dynamic friction coefficient between fibers, and its intermolecular forces are very small, but also reduce the surface tension of fibers. So, it is the ideal material for textile soft finishing agent. Silicone softener is the fastest growing softener species in recent years.

keywords:Softener,Properties, Finishing Auxiliaries, Textile Dyeing Auxiliaries, Lubricious and Soft, Silicone Oil,