National Textile University

B.S Textile Engineering

Assignment

Course Code: TE-2113

Course Title: Textile Processing

Assignment No.
Title Pretreatment of PC Blended Fabric.
Student Name Muhammad Anas
Registration No. 19-NTU-TE-0091
4th
Semester

Date of August 31,2021

submission

Submitted To Syed Qumar Zia Gilani

 Title:
Pretreatment of PC Blended Fabric.
Table of Contents
Abstract: ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Introduction: ............................................................................................................................... 4
Pretreatment of PC Blended Fabric: .......................................................................................... 5
Singeing: ................................................................................................................................ 5
Objectives of Singeing: .......................................................................................................... 5
Singeing of PC blended fabric: .............................................................................................. 5
Desizing: ................................................................................................................................ 5
Objectives of desizing: ........................................................................................................... 6
Types of desizing: ................................................................................................................... 6
Desizing of PC blended fabric: .............................................................................................. 6
Scouring: ................................................................................................................................ 6
Objectives of scouring: .......................................................................................................... 6
Scouring of PC blended fabric:.............................................................................................. 7
Bleaching: .............................................................................................................................. 7
Objectives of bleaching: ......................................................................................................... 7
Mechanism of Bleaching: ....................................................................................................... 7
Methods of bleaching: ............................................................................................................ 7
Bleaching of PC blended fabric: ............................................................................................ 7
Mercerization: ........................................................................................................................ 8
Objectives of mercerization: .................................................................................................. 8
Mercerization of PC blended fabric: ..................................................................................... 8
Conclusion: ................................................................................................................................ 8
References: ................................................................................................................................. 9
Abstract:
In this report we will discuss about the pretreatment process of PC blended fabric that can be
used for further process like dyeing and finishing.

Introduction:
Pretreatment is a heart of processing of textile. In Pretreatment, all the impurities are removed,
and fabric become more absorbent and whiter and can be easily processed further. Pretreatment
is the process to make the textile materials suitable for dyeing and printing. Such as singeing,
desizing, scouring, bleaching etc.

The flow chart of pretreatment process is given below,

Figure 1 Flow chart of pretreatment

Pretreatment of PC Blended Fabric:
The pretreatment of PC blended fabric involves the following steps,

❖ Singeing:
Singeing is a process, where loose hairy fibers are protruded from the surface of fabric, and the
yarn is removed by burning. The mechanism is to pass one or both sides of fabric over a gas
flame to burn off the protruding fibers.

Objectives of Singeing:
• To remove the short fibers from the textile materials (yarn and fabric).
• To make the textile materials smooth, even and clean looking.
• To develop maximum luster in the textile materials.
• To make the textile materials suitable for subsequent next process.

Figure 2 Singeing process diagram

Singeing of PC blended fabric:

The singeing of PC blended fabric is carried out after dyeing. In singing polyester fiber ends up
melting and these melt beads have higher dye affinity than rest of the fabric. So, if singeing is
done before dying, there will be uneven dyeing. Gas singeing or hot plate singeing is used. High
temperature singeing process may sometimes change the glass-transition temperature (Tg) of
synthetic fibers that lead to uneven dyeing. For blended fabrics singeing conditions are to be
selected depending on the sensitiveness of the kinds of fibers to heat, blend composition, weight
of fabric and fabric geometry.
❖ Desizing:
Desizing is a process by which size materials remove from woven fabric. It is a part of the
pretreatment process in textile wet processing. This is the first wet processing in the textile
finishing process used to remove sized materials from the warp yarn of woven fabric. This must
be done before any subsequent wet processing of the fabric.
Objectives of desizing:
• To remove the size material
• To increases the absorbency of fabric
• For uniform dyeing
Types of desizing:
The main desizing processes are,
• Hydrolytic desizing
• Oxidative desizing

Figure 3 Types of desizing

Desizing of PC blended fabric:

Size present on PC blend consists of acrylic monomers or Poly Vinyl alcohol (PVA) together
with starch, Carboxy methylcellulose (CMC) and lubricating agents. PVA and acrylic
monomers size is removed with mild alkali treatment using a liquor containing Soda ash (4 g/l)
and detergent (1 g/l) at 60 –70°C.
❖ Scouring:
Scouring is the process through which natural and added impurities like oil, wax, gum, fat, etc.
are eliminated from fabric. The most important wet process used on textile products
before dyeing or printing is scouring.
Objectives of scouring:
• Natural and synthetic oils, fats, and waxes are removed from clothing products
• Improve hydrophilicity
• Improve absorbency
• Prepare for the next process
Scouring of PC blended fabric:
Synthetic fibers generally do not contain naturally occurring impurities like natural fibers i.e.,
cotton and wool. However, spin finishes, processing and coning oils and antistatic agents are
added to improve the physical and mechanical properties during spinning, weaving, and
knitting. At high concentration of caustic soda, polyester gets saponified. Polyester loses 3 –5
% weight on treatments with 2 % caustic soda at 100°C. It is essential to optimize scouring
process with respect to minimum loss in strength. Soda ash is safer alkaline agent for scouring
of PC blends. After boiling with 2% sodium carbonate for 24 h, polyester strength losses are
negligible.
❖ Bleaching:
The process by which the natural colors of textile fiber are removed to achieve whiteness for
development of true color is known as bleaching.
Objectives of bleaching:
• Removal of colored impurities.
• Low chemical & energy consumption.
• Increasing the degree of whiteness.
Mechanism of Bleaching:
The color producing agents in natural fibers are often organic compounds containing conjugated
double bonds. Decoloration can occur by breaking up the chromophore, most likely destroying
one or more of the double bonds within the conjugated system. The bleaching agents either
oxidize or reduce the coloring matter. Thus, whiteness obtained is of permanent nature.
Methods of bleaching:
There is the following process of bleaching,
• Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) bleaching.
• Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) bleaching.
• Sodium chlorite (NaClO2) bleaching.
• Bleaching powder (Ca(OCl)Cl) bleaching.
Bleaching of PC blended fabric:
Polyester fiber in blends with cellulosic fibers in the ratios of 65/35 and 50/50 are common
construction. When cellulose portion is rayon, the blends rarely require bleaching, but when
cotton is present bleaching is usually necessary. Bleaching treatments of such blends are
normally required to remove the natural colors of cotton, sighting colors and if the polyester
portion is turned yellow at the time of heat-setting operation. Chlorine bleaching, peroxide
bleaching and chlorite bleaching are employed widely. If the polyester portion requires
bleaching, then chlorite bleaching is used, as this bleaching agent bleaches both polyester and
cellulose. If the polyester portion does not need bleaching, then peroxide bleaching is more
convenient. Alkaline hydrogen peroxide bleaching is the most preferred system for
polyester/cotton blends.
It is essential to bleach PC blends fabric to improve the whiteness of cotton components. The
usual bleaching agents used for cotton are used for bleaching of blends. For goods to be dyed
to be dyed or printed in deep shades, bleaching is carried out with sodium hypochlorite or
hydrogen peroxide. For goods to be sold as white or lightly colored fabric, bleaching is done
with sodium hypochlorite and or sodium chlorite followed by hydrogen peroxide.
❖ Mercerization:
Mercerization is a finishing treatment of cotton with a strong caustic alkaline solution to
improve the luster, hard and other properties. It is a treatment for cotton articles and/or natural
fibers composed by cellulose in a concentrated solution of caustic soda (300 g/l), under tension
and ambient temperature.
Objectives of mercerization:
• Increase tensile strength.
• Improved hygroscopicity.
• Improved smoothness.
• Improved luster.
• Improved dimensional stability.
Mercerization of PC blended fabric:
PET/cotton blend fabric is mercerized to improve the properties of cotton component without
significant damage to the polyester. Luster smoothness, dimensional stability tensile strength
etc. of cotton are improved by mercerization. Polyester get saponified by strong alkali under
drastic conditions and fiber become finer in diameter and smoother in feel which gives silk like
handle however due to decrease in denier of polyester yarn loses tensile strength. So, the
mercerization of PET/Cotton blend is carried out at low temperature for short time.
Concentration of NaOH around 18% with special wetting agent as wet ability of fabric is not
very high is used at room temperature. An acid souring and rinsing is done to neutralize the
alkali in fabric.

Conclusion:
Hence it is concluded that the scouring and mercerization of PC blends fabric is carried out
under light alkaline conditions and desizing is also carried out of PC blend. The singeing of PC
is done after dyeing.
References:
• https://www.slideshare.net/anik56deb/pc-blend-dyeing
• https://www.slideshare.net/sheshir/desizing-34238292
• https://www.textilesphere.com/2021/05/desizing-textile.html
• https://textilelearner.net/scouring-process-of-cotton-in-textile-industry/
• https://www.slideshare.net/Farhanullahbaig/scouring-process-in-textile-processing
• http://textilefashionstudy.com/textile-bleaching-process-definition-objectives-process-
parameters-of-bleaching/
• http://www.definetextile.com/2013/05/bleaching.html
• https://www.slideshare.net/sheshir/mercerization
• http://www.definetextile.com/2013/07/mercerization.html