How to clean dyeing with Viscose?

Recommendations for Pre-treatment, dyeing and finishing

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 30

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Pre treatment

❖ Scouring and bleaching need to be mild in nature.

❖ The fabrics should always be scoured, and never put straight into dye because it is important
to remove any residual sulphur to prevent dye reduction.

❖ Spinning lubricants used on viscose tend to yellow with heat, and so should be removed for
best whites and bright pastels.

❖ The liquor ratio may need to be a little higher than for cotton, because of the higher water
retention but also because of the high swelling.

❖ Break outs are always an issue on viscose, particularly where there is lengthways tension on
the fabric. Best avoided by sewing the fabric at an angle, not straight across. Use multiple
"zig-zag" stitching for additional security.

❖ There should be as little tension on the fabric as possible, because of the low wet modulus it
will stretch easily and dimensional stability may never be achieved.

❖ Usually means slower turn around times and dyeing machines with winches to help the fabric
into the jet, or the cigar-type machines with the fabric movement into the jet being
downwards. The more “soft flow” the dyeing machine – the better.

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 31

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Creasing and breaking of sewings

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 32

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Pre treatment

Better base white than cotton, therefore bleaching mainly required only
for full white or pastel shades.

Woven fabrics

Warps of viscose rayon can be sized with a variety of agents : starch

based systems, polyvinyl alcohol systems or a combination of both,
modified starch, starch ethers or CMC or combinations of these.

Identification of the size present is important prior to deciding on a

suitable desizing procedure, however, many factories will opt to use
their standard cotton desize treatment :
e.g. applying in the quench box of a singeing machine :

Pad 2 - 4 g/l amylase enzyme

1 - 2 g/l wetting agent
impregnate at 60°C ;
pick-up 80 % ; batch minimum 4 hours – normally overnight ; wash-off.

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 33

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Pre treatment (Relax / Scouring)

Viscose rayon fibres, unlike natural cellulosic fibres, are free from natural
fats and waxes, motes and seeds, and the scouring process, therefore,
need not be as severe as for cotton, and can be based on soda ash or tetra
sodium pyrophosphate recipes rather than caustic soda. A typical scouring
recipe on a 5 box continuous open width washing range would be :

Box 1
3g/l Detergent
2 g/l Soda Ash
1 g/l Sequestering and dispersing agent at 95°C
Box 2 Box 3
1~2 g/l Sequestering and dispersing agent at 95°C
Box 4 Water only at 70°C
Box 5 Water only – cold

Knitted fabric – on jet or overflow machine

2 – 4 ml/l Lubricant, 0.5 – 1 g/l crease mark inhibitor
0.5 – 1 g/l Non-foaming detergent
0.5 – 2 g/l sequestering agent Run 20 to 30 minutes at 60-90° C
1 – 3 g/l Soda ash (about pH 9) Hot rinse

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 34

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Pre treatment (Bleaching)

Peroxide bleach on jet or overflow machine

For full white

1.0 – 3 ml/l Lubricant

0.5 – 1 g/l crease mark inhibitor Run 40 minutes at 85° C
Hot rinse at 60 – 80° C
2 – 4 g/l sequestering, detergent H2O2 Neutralise
2 – 6 ml/l Hydrogen peroxide 35% for 10 – 15 minutes at 50-60° C
0.2 – 0.6% Optical brightener for cellulosic fibers

If dyeing after bleaching, omit optical brightening agent, add 0.1 – 0.5 ml/l catalase
enzyme, Peroxide killer to same bath after neutralising with Neutralizing agen, to
prevent oxidative damage to dyes by residual peroxide.
There is a high risk of forming permanent creases in rope dyeing machines because
viscose fibre swells and fabrics become stiff. Fabric will therefore not run well at
temperatures below 50° C. Fabric must always be run at temperatures of 50° C or
higher. Cool at a gradient of not more than 1° C per minute to prevent hydro plastic
creasing.

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 35

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Pre treatment (Causticising)
Causticising

Causticisation modifies the viscose fibre surface or skin to enable more

rapid diffusion of dye into the fibre. Benefits are therefore more obvious
in printing than in dyeing, where long diffusion times are employed, and
with selected reactive dyes, yield gains of up to 50% are possible.
Typical conditions for pure viscose are treatment with 6° - 8° Bé caustic
soda at 25° - 30° C for at least 2 minutes followed by low tension washing
with boiling water to assist the rapid removal of alkali.

Pad-Batch processing is popular although dedicated continuous plant,

employing a scray or conveyor for tensionless swelling and reaction, is
preferable. Liquor pick-up of about 120% should be achieved. The best
after-washing device is probably a sieve drum continuous open-width
range. Low uniform processing tensions are essential for consistent
results and good quality. Rinsing should be done as hot as possible to
minimise swelling and ensure rapid and complete removal of caustic soda.
An addition of 2 – 4 g/l soda ash in the initial wash boxes will promote
removal of alkali, and help maintain a good fabric handle. Neutralisation
is also advisable.
Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 36
 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Pre treatment (blended lycra)

Viscose/lycra
Where blends of viscose/lycra contain more than about 5 or 6% lycra, it will be
very difficult to achieve satisfactory dimensional stability in the final garment (e.g. less
than 5% shrinkage on washing) unless the fabric is pre-set before wet processing.

For best results we recommend:

Pad the greige fabric in:
Lubricant 20 g/l
Non-foaming detergent 5 g/l

Heat set for 30 – 60 seconds at 190° - 195° C (depending on type of elastane)

After heat setting the fabric will feel very soft and bulky compared to fabric heat-set
without auxiliaries, and when put into water the knitting and spinning oils and charred
colour are immediately rinsed out of the fabric. When the heat set fabric is loaded into
the dyeing machine, a quick hot rinse is applied, then the fabric is scoured/bleached
with biodegradable detergent to complete the removal of silicone oil. Because the fabric
already
contains Lubricant, no further addition of anti-crease agent is necessary in the
scouring/bleaching bath.
Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 37
 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Pre treatment

(Reference) Basic pretreatment process of Viscose rayon

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 38

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Dyeing (Yarn)

Dyeing - Yarn

Without salt, swelling of viscose increases with temperature. This must be

remembered in package dyeing where high swelling and high pump pressure can lead
to flattening of the yarn cross section at cross over points. Flow should be
predominantly IN to OUT so that the yarn layers float apart and the liquor can
circulate more easily. With OUT to IN flow the yarn layers are compressed and flow
is reduced. OUT to IN flow cycles should therefore only be 30 seconds or so.

Conical cones:
The cones must be homogeneously wound to ensure an even dye result and the
bobbin edges should be carefully rounded off (bumped).
The winding hardness should be approx. 25 Shore. Taking the relatively high
swelling of the material into account this equals a volume of approx. 360 – 380 g/l.
Due to the higher swelling of the material we recommend that the winding
diameter is limited to 160mm. Dyeing problems have been experienced where the
yarn tube diameter has reached 170mm (approximately 850g / cone).

Cylindrical Cones:
Lighter dyeing results on the edges can be avoided by using winding hardness's of
approx. 25 Shore and a pressure rate of 20 %.

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 39

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Dyeing (Fabric)

Dyeing - Fabric

As viscose is a high affinity fibre, special consideration must be given to the choice of dyestuff
and exhaust application technique. Hot dyeing reactive dyes are preferred for exhaust application
in order to secure the highest migration and diffusion through the high affinity fibre when dyeing
in rope form. Dye suppliers will thus generally recommend a migration technique to give levelness
and reproducibility. This technique offers high dye mobility at temperatures as high as 110° C
before cooling to 80° C for optimum fixation of the reactive dye to the cellulose chain.

For higher substantivity dyes,

the salt should be added gradually (over
30 mins) at 95° C, or at the highest
temperature at which additions can be made.

The bath is set at 50° C with the required amount of electrolyte, auxiliaries and the pH adjusted
with acetic acid to around pH 6.0. Predissolved dyes are then added in a linear manner over 15 –
20 minutes. The temperature is raised to 95° C (or even up to 110° C) at 1.5 to 2° C per min. and
held for 20 minutes at 95° C before cooling back to 80° C at 1° C per min. Hold at 80° C for 10
minutes before adding the alkali in a linear manner over 15-20 minutes. Continue for 45-60 mins.
Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 40
 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Dyeing (H-E type)

(Reference) Hot dyeing (H-E type) reactive dyes?

High temperature is helpful to penetrate ◆ Rayon, Tencel, Modal and Mercerized yarn/cotton
High twisted yarn, yarn dyeing, garment dyeing etc.
& migration of dyestuffs to fabrics

Why H-E type lost market?

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 41

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Dyeing method

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 42

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Dyeing method

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 43

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Dyeing method

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 44

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Dyeing method

(Reference) Unlevel dyeing with Rayon (meter to meter, side by side)

: viscose 100%, c / modal excess salt, alkali use, low temperature alkaline dosing salt inconsistent occurrence.
: Improved salt usage (meriserizing standard cotton 30% down).
: The migration method is recommended rather than the heating method.

-Recommendation of salt & alkali table for rayon

-Yellow SPR 0.021%
-Red SPR 0.017%
-Blue SPR 0.041% (Salt/Soda ash) 25/6g/l -> 5/5g/l

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 45

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Dyeing

Dyeing - Fabric

If dyed viscose fabrics are allowed to begin to

dry in patches – top of trolley –edges of folds –
these areas may be visible as a physical/optical
patch after finishing.
Keep fabric thoroughly wetted until drying
machine/ stenter is available

Preventing predrying of the fabric is important, but it is far better to ensure that
production flows quickly and fabric does not stand wet for a long time.
Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 46
 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Summary of Dyeing

Dyeing - Summary

➢ Remove oils and waxes in preparation

➢ No twists in loading – load machine below capacity
➢ Sewing – sew more than once – at an angle
➢ Abrasion – avoid slippage – always run at 50° C or higher
➢ Cooling creases – cool at 1° C per minute
➢ Danger of sulphur residues and reduction
➢ Tension in dyeing machine – problems with shrinkage
➢ Migration of unfixed dye while waiting for drying
➢ Fabric drying out in patches – watermarks(physical/optical effect).
Keep fabric wet right up to the dryer

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 47

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Dyeing method

(Reference) Best Combination with trichmie on rayon

Sunfix
Navy Blue SB conc.

Too fast
Sunfix
Navy Blue SS

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 48

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Dyeing method

How reduce reactivity after input alkali ?

Sunfix Navy Blue SS with Rayon

Salt, alkali is less 30%

Similar dyeing behavior

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 49

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Dyeing method

Alkali & Salt recommendation for rayon

Use the amount of salt, alkali is less 30% than cotton standard.
Because viscose rayon has high substantivity and reactivity

Alkali usage factor

(STD 1:10)

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 50

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Finishing

With viscose/elastane blends, pre-setting is necessary. The dyer could run into creasing
problems if attempting to pre scour and dye without setting. If pre-setting greige
fabric – beware of temperature variation across the tenter, - temperature variation can
have a marked effect on dye pick up on the viscose.

Whether stentering before dye or after dye, where a viscose fabric hangs down heavily
at the entry to the stenter, this can result in a gross variation in weight per square
metre from the bottom of the sag to the edges near to the pins, especially on a non-
support stenter, and this can lead to side-centre-side shade variation. Take cuttings
across the piece and determine weight per sq.m.. The results can vary greatly.

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 51

 Technical Solutions for Semi-Synthetic fibers
Theoretical consideration and Practical application – Finishing

➢ Viscose fabrics will absorb relatively high amounts of water and will swell to a greater
extent than cotton.
➢ Fabrics made of viscose show a low level of dimensional stability in their swollen state and a
higher propensity to crease than in their dry state.
➢ To give woven and knitted viscose dimensional stability and increase the fabric
performance values it is beneficial to reduce the swelling capacity of the fibres. This can
be achieved through the use of cellulose cross-linkers (low formaldehyde or zero
formaldehyde) and additives .
➢ To ensure the efficiency of the cross-linker the fabric should not contain alkali and there
should be sufficient time for the cross-linker to diffuse into the fibres and exchange with
the swelling water already present.
➢ Similarly, it is important not to dry the padded fabric at too high a temperature in order to
prevent migration of the cross-linkers to the fibre or fabric surface. Resin migration leads
to a higher surface concentration of the cross-linker which is contrary to the desired
effects and can reduce abrasion resistance.
➢ Viscose and Modal require a higher amount of cross-linker for easy-care finishing than
cotton fabrics to achieve a comparable effect. The higher amount of cross-linker required
can lead to a corresponding reduction in abrasion resistance.
➢ Compared to cotton, articles made of viscose and Modal fibres display much lower losses in
➢ tenacity due to cross-linkage. No losses in tenacity result from cross-linking providing the
➢ goods are given low-

Egypt Seminar, 15 Jan., 2019 4th section : Hyunjun, Jang page 52