Requirements for Textile Softeners
① Excellent softness, smoothness and bulkiness
② Little effect on the whiteness or color fastness of textiles.
③ Under various processing conditions (dipping, padding, temperature, PH, etc.), it must have considerable stability.
④ Fibers or fabrics after softening and finishing should not be discolored by heat, and there should be no changes in color, smell, and feel during storage.
⑤ If the softener is an emulsion, the stability of the emulsion should be good without breaking the emulsion.
⑥ There is no adverse effect in skin contact and meets environmental protection requirements.
⑦ According to different processing requirements: it can have appropriate water absorption, water repellency, antistatic and other properties.
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How to distinguish softener
Softening agent is a kind of auxiliary agent with the most varieties and the largest amount of dyeing and finishing auxiliaries. According to its chemical structure, it is basically two types of long-chain aliphatic or high molecular polymer.
Long-chain aliphatics not only have many varieties, but also have a large dosage. Such softeners can be divided into anionic, cationic, nonionic and amphoteric according to their ionic properties.
In addition, for natural oils and paraffin softeners, because they are all natural lubricating substances, they can also be used as a separate category.
Polymer softeners mainly include polyethylene and silicone. The variety of polyethylene softeners is relatively single, and the dosage is relatively small. The most used ones are mainly silicone softeners.
The molecular structure of polysiloxane can not only reduce the static and dynamic friction coefficient between fibers, but also reduce the surface tension of fibers, so it is an ideal material for textile softening agent.
Silicone softeners, especially amino-modified silicone softeners, are the fastest-growing softener varieties in recent years.
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Softener performance introduction
1. Anionic softener:
It has good wettability and thermal stability, can be used in the same bath with fluorescent whitening agent, and can be used as a softener for extra-white fabrics. Also, since it has an in-bath softening effect, it can be used for silk refining to prevent chafing (grazing).
2. Non-ionic softener:
Due to its poor adsorption to fibers, it can only play a smoothing role. However, it can be used in combination with ionic softeners, has good compatibility, good stability to electrolytes, and does not have the disadvantage of yellowing fabrics. It can be used as a non-durable softening agent, and can also be used as an important synthetic fiber spinning oil. component.
3. Cationic softener:
There are many varieties of this kind of softener, and it is the most commonly used softener at present. The main reason is that the fiber has a negative charge in water, and the cationic softener is easy to adsorb on the surface of the fiber. Synthetic fibers also have a certain antistatic effect.
4. Amphoteric softener:
It has a strong affinity for synthetic fibers, without the disadvantages of yellowing and discoloration of dyes. Can be used on silk to make silk feel better. Amphoteric softeners can also be used together with cationic softeners.
5. Silicone softener:
Products include emulsion polymerization, polymer silicone oil emulsification, modification, compounding and other production processes, which have basically formed a system. However, the application effect and performance are still very different.
Dimethicone emulsion: It can give the fabric a slippery, stiff and cool feel, wear resistance and seamability. However, it cannot react with fibers, nor can it cross-link itself, so the washing resistance is poor and the improvement of elasticity is limited.
Silicone hydroxyemulsion (hydroxyl silicone oil emulsion): softness, smoothness, washability, elasticity. Stability is difficult to grasp, and there will be oil floating phenomenon, oil spots and other defects. Therefore, the stability of silicone hydroxyl emulsion is also an important indicator for evaluating its quality.
Hydrophilic soluble silicone (polyether hydrophilic silicone): colorless transparent thick liquid, good moisture absorption, breathability and antistatic properties, etc., can be mixed with various additives. In addition to being used for resin finishing and soft finishing, it is also widely used in paint dyeing process.
Amino-modified silicone: reduce the friction coefficient of fibers, suitable for cotton, wool, silk, viscose fiber, polyester, etc. Excellent softness and resilience. The higher the amino content, the better the softness. But higher amino content also means greater yellowing.
6. Low molecular weight polyethylene emulsion:
It has a certain affinity to fibers, smooth hand feeling, can be used with resin, and can improve tear strength and wear resistance. It is an inexpensive fabric soft and smooth additive before the popularization and application of silicone softeners. At present, this kind of softener is generally not used alone, but can be used as a compound component of various softeners, and can also be used as a stabilizer in hydroxyl silicone emulsion.
