Performance of formaldehyde-free fixing agents on the shade and fastness properties of cotton fabric dyed with reactive dye

Abstract

Reactive dye, the most frequently used dye for cotton coloration due to its superior technical aspects, especially its uncut covalent bond with the fiber, show poor fastness properties because of unfixed or hydrolyzed dyes on the fabric surface. Several fixing agents were investigated to improve the fastness properties, while some are not eco-friendly. However, instead of harmful chemicals, the formaldehyde-free fixing agents Optifix RSL, Albafix Optifix FRD, EC, and Albafix ECO were used in this study to enhance the fastness properties. These agents were applied on reactive dyed cotton knit fabric at 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5% concentration, and different fastness properties of treated fabric were investigated, namely colorfastness to washing, rubbing, and perspiration. In most cases, treated fabrics showed better fastness properties than untreated ones, whereas 1% concentration yielded better than 0.5%, and no improvement was found with further increasing the concentration of the fixing agent. Moreover, the mentioned fixing agents had little effect on shade, and this phenomenon was also inspected in terms of ΔE and K/S values. Quaternary ammonium compounds (Optifix RSL and Albafix FRD) performed better stability regarding shade than aliphatic polyamine compounds (Optifix EC and Albafix ECO), and this change appeared slightly yellowish to blueish.