EXPERIMENT # 4

OBJECT:
Print cotton fabric with direct dyes using sodium alginate as a thickener.

CHEMICALS:
Sodium alginate
Water
Sodium carbonate
Direct dyes of three different colors

OPTIMUM CONDITION:
Time ~3 minutes

pH ~8-9

THICKENER:
Viscous pastes used for textile printing usually consist of either solutions of high molecular
weight polymers or emulsions of immiscible liquids. The chemicals used belong to various
chemical classes. Unbranched polymers give viscous solutions at low concentrations but the
viscosity falls with increasing shear. Branched chain polymers require higher concentrations to
give the required viscosity but are less sensitive to shear. The types of thickening agents used
are:

(1) Naturally occurring carbohydrates such as guar and locust bean gum, cellulose and starch
derivatives and alginates from seaweed. These dissolve or disperse in water to give viscous
pastes. Their preparation from the solid carbohydrate requires considerable care. The
powdered carbohydrate is rapidly dispersed in water before any significant swelling of the
particles can occur. This avoids the formation of gummy lumps in the paste. This may then
stand for some time before gradually heating, if required. As a precaution, the final paste is
often strained;

(2) Emulsions of oil in water. These emulsions consist of small droplets of oil dispersed in water.
The negative charges of the anionic emulsifier molecules adsorbed on the surfaces of the
droplets prevent their coalescence. In textile printing, a typical emulsion thickener has about
70% white spirit (petroleum distillate boiling at 150200 C) in water. Both components are
volatile and leave no residue after drying;
SODIUM ALGINATE:
Sodium alginate has a long history of application in in textile warp sizing, dyeing finishing and
printing paste, of which the last one is the main leading application. As the paste of reactive
dyes, sodium alginate has unique properties. The chemical reaction generated between fiber
and reactive dyes helps fix the dye to fiber, and consequently this makes the dyed fiber hard,
brittle and not so good in color. However, when sodium alginate acts as the printing paste, it
wont impact the dying process between reactive dyes and fiber and can print out clear and
bright decorative patterns, both high in color yield and good in hand feel. Sodium alginate can
be used in printing of not only cotton but wool, silk and synthetic fiber.

Sodium alginate with medium or low viscosity can be used in the printing paste from screen
printing to roller printing. In fact, sodium alginate with low viscosity helps to make the printing
relatively stable and this makes it possible to prepare the printing paste with higher content.
The printing paste of this kind helps to produce a compact film during the drying process and
to increase the coloring yield. Furthermore, the printing paste made from high quality sodium
alginate caters for the particular needs in ink-jet printing.

DIRECT DYES:
Direct dyes are one of the most versatile classes of dyestuff applicable to cellulose, wool, silk,
nylon fibers. This dyes have inherent substantivity for cotton, and for other cellulosic fibres.
Their aqueous solutions dye cotton usually in the presence of an electrolyte such as NaCl or
Na2SO4. The light fastness of dyeings with direct dyes on cellulosic fibers varies from poor to
fairly good, although some copper complex direct dyes have very good light fastness. As usual,
the deeper the color of the dyeing, the lower the fastness to wet treatments, and the higher
the fastness to light. Various after treatments of the dyeings improve the fastness to washing.
In some cases, however, such after treatments decrease the light fastness. They also invariably
cause a change in hue that makes shade correction and color matching more difficult. Direct
dyes generally cannot meet todays more stringent washing fastness requirements for apparel
and linens. In recent years, their share of the market has gradually declined in favour of
reactive dyes. The latter have very good washing fastness on cellulosic materials and often have
bright colors.

PURPOSE OF SODIUM CARBONATE:

If pH is less than 8 then add some sodium carbonate to increase the pH. If pH greater than 9,
then add some acetic acid to decrease its pH.