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DOI: 10.4172/2165-8064.S2-002
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Journal of Textile Science & Engineering
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ISSN: 2165-8064

Research Article Open

OpenAccess
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A Novel Method of Dyeing Nylon 6, 6 with Cold Brand Reactive Dyes and
Assessment of its Fastness Properties
Sumithra M* and Arasi D
Department of Costume Design and Fashion, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, India

Abstract
Nylon is a synthetic fiber made from petroleum products which was developed as an alternative to silk. Nylon is
valued for its light weight, incredible tensile strength, durability, and resistance to damage. It also takes dye easily,
making the fabric available in a wide array of colours for consumers. Nylon has conventionally been dyed by using
Acid dyes on a major extent. In this study Nylon 6,6 was dyed with commercial di-chlorotriazinyl reactive dyes .using
100% nylon woven fabric was taken for this study. Nylon fabric GSM was 50 g/m2, EPI-20 and PPI-32. The pH was
kept at 4 and the temperature was maintained at 98°C, this temperature was used in subsequent experiments. The
blue reactive dyes and acid dyes are used for dyeing and it was concluded as good to excellent fastness to washing
and rubbing. And light fastness was almost equal for both reactive dyed and acid dye. In acid and reactive dyes Blue
MR had good colour variation,good colour strength.

Keywords: Acid dyes; Blue color; Fastness properties; Nylon fabric, As a group, acid dyes can be divided into two sub-groups: acid-
Reactive dyes leveling or acid-milling. These dyes are normally very complex in
structure but have large aromatic molecules, having a sulphonyl or
Introduction amino group which makes them soluble in water [6].
Nylon is valued for its light weight, incredible tensile strength, The main objectives of the study are as follows:
durability, and resistance to damage. It also takes dye easily, making the
fabric available in a wide array of colors for consumers [1]. • To develop a new method to improve colour yield of di-chloro-tri-
azinyl reactive dyes on Nylon.
Reactive dyes were commercially introduced over 40 years ago for
cellulosic fibres and now form one of the most important dye classes • To improve fastness properties of di-chloro tri-azinyl reactive
for that fibre. The mechanisms of the interaction/reaction of reactive dyes on nylon.
dyes with cellulosic fibres are well understood. The dye is first absorbed • To compare fastness properties of reactive dyes and acid dyes on
by the fibre and then reacts with it by either a substitution reaction for Nylon Fabrics.
dyes containing, for example, a Monochlorotriazine (MCT) group or an
• To develop a reactive dyeing technology for dyeing of Nylon that
addition reaction for dyes with a vinyl sulphone (VS) group [2].
is applicable to industrial and domestic levels.
Characteristically high wet fastness is derived from dyes thus
covalently bound to the fibre. 1t is known that the reactive dyes Materials and Methods
developed for cellulosic fibres or for wool can be applied at the boil to Selection of fabric
nylon under weakly acidic conditions (pH 4.0-6.0) and that covalent
Four meters of bleached 100%woven nylon fabric of 50 g/m2, 20-
bonds form between the dye and the amino groups of nylon, without
EPI, 32-PPI and Weight of the Fabric-82.82 g is selected for this Study.
an alkaline fixation step. Since reactive dyes typically do not include
The fabric was purchased from komarapalayam, Salem.
heavy metals such as chromium, the characteristically high wet fastness
of the dyes comes with the concomitant advantages of brightness Methods
and low environmental impact. Despite the obvious advantages, the
The method adopted for this study is
commercialization of reactive dyes for nylon has not gained widespread
success [3].
Acid dyes are highly water soluble, and have better light fastness
than basic dyes. The textile acid dyes are effective for protein fibres such
as silk, wool, nylon and modified acrylics. They contain sulphonic acid *Corresponding author: Sumithra M, Department of Costume Design and
groups, which are usually present as sodium sulphonate salts. These Fashion, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, India, Tel: +91-422-
430-33; E-mail: [email protected]
increase solubility in water, and give the dye molecules a negative
charge [4]. Received April 04, 2014; Accepted April 16, 2014; Published April 18, 2014

Citation: Sumithra M, Arasi D (2014) A Novel Method of Dyeing Nylon 6, 6 with

In an acidic solution, the -NH2 functionalities of the fibres are Cold Brand Reactive Dyes and Assessment of its Fastness Properties. J Textile
protonated to give a positive charge-NH3+. This charge interacts with Sci Eng S2: 002. doi:10.4172/2165-8064.S2-002
the negative dye charge, allowing the formation of ionic interactions. As Copyright: © 2014 Sumithra M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed
well as this, Van der Waals bonds, dipolar bonds and hydrogen bonds under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
are formed between dye and fibre [5]. original author and source are credited.

J Textile Sci Eng Textile Recycling and its Applications ISSN: 2165-8064 JTESE, an open access journal
Citation: Sumithra M, Arasi D (2014) A Novel Method of Dyeing Nylon 6, 6 with Cold Brand Reactive Dyes and Assessment of its Fastness Properties.
J Textile Sci Eng S2: 002. doi:10.4172/2165-8064.S2-002

Page 2 of 3

Selection of Fabric-Komarapalyam The fastness properties to washing, rubbing are tested for the dyed
fabrics under ISO test conditions as prescribed below.
Pre - Treatment Process (Desizing) • Wash fastness testing IS:764-1979
• Rubbing fastness testing IS:776-1956
Dyeing of Fabric
• Light fastness testing AATCC 16E
• ∆E and Strength of Dyes Macbeth 7000A Spectrophotometer
Acid Dye Reactive Dye

Results and Discussions

Blue (1%) Blue (3%) Blue MR (1%) Blue MR
(3%)
Effect of temperature
The exhaustion and fixation data obtained when different dyeing
Colour fastness testing
temperatures used. Since optimum dye exhaustion and dye fixation
were achieved previously at pH 4 which is necessary to achieve adequate
substantively of the anionic dyes for the protonated amino end groups
in the fibres, the effect of dyeing temperature was studied at this pH
Pre-Treatment value. In the case of reactive dyes, due to low migrating power, careful
control of dye exhaustion by means of temperature is demanded.
Pre-treatment of Nylon fabric involves the usage of the following
recipe for removal of these antistatic finishes as they hinder the dye Higher dye exhaustion and fixation were obtained in the range
absorption capability of the fabric. The ingredients used were: of temperatures of 95-98°C. This efficiency can be attributed to the
higher kinetic energy of the dye molecules and their consequent greater
Soda ash 2% migration power within the substrates. In addition, a higher extent
Wetting oil 0.5 gpl of fibre swelling will have contributed to increased dye exhaustion.
Duration 20 mins As maximum fixation efficiency was obtained around 98°C, this
Temperature 70°C temperature was used in subsequent experiments [6].
MLR 20 Colourfastness properties
Soda ash and wetting oil were taken and added to the bath The colourfastness to rubbing, washing and light of the alternative
containing water. The fabric was introduced into the bath at 70°C and dyeing were generally good to excellent and the same as those achieved
was treated for 20 minutes. Then it was taken out, rinsed with hot water with the traditional dyeing formulation containing inorganic electrolyte
and then with cold water. It was then squeezed and allowed to dry at and alkali. Such identical colour fastness results are encouraging.
room temperature.
Comparison of colour fastness of reactive dyes and acid dyes
The weight of fabric before pre-treatment was 82.82 g after which it
was pre-treated and weight of fabric after pre-treatment was 82.30 g and Theoretically, reactive dyeing on nylon fibres should, by virtue of
hence, weight lost from the fabric was 00.52 g. the covalent nature of the dye-fibre bond, display excellent fastness
to washing without recourse to an aftertreatment. In this context, the
The weight lost from the fabric refers to the amount of antistatic aim of this experiment was to determine the level of fastness displayed
finish removed from the fabric. It accounts for about 0.63% of the total by reactive dyeing on nylon substrates to extended washings and to
weight of the fabric. compare this to that achieved using nylon fibres which had been dyed
with acid dyes. The acids dyeing having the similar color strength with
Dyeing reactive dyeing were prepared using colour matching system. Thus,
Three different colours of cold brand reactive dyes of two shades for these samples are appropriate for the comparison of wash tests.
all blue colours were used for dyeing the fabric. The recipe for Nylon
The colour strength of the acid dyeing decreased with increasing
dyeing with cold brand reactive dyes is as follows:
number of washes and that dye desorption from the dyed samples
Acetic acid 1% occurred progressively as the number of washes increased. It is
Glabour’s salt 10% evident that for each of the three reactive dyes, the extent of dye loss
Sodium acetate 1% that occurred during repeated washings was very low and the shade
Blue MR Dyes 1% of the dyeing was little changed. The considerable difference in wash-
down observed between the reactive dyeing and the acid dyeing can be
Temperature 50°C to 98°C
attributed to the difference in the nature of dye-fibre interaction, namely
Time 10 minutes-30 minutes
covalent, in the case of the reactive dyes and non-covalent in the case
The Dyestuff, Acetic acid, Glabour’s salt and Sodium Acetate of the acid dyes. The table show that the reactive dyeing displayed very
are taken and added to the dye bath based on the recipe. The fabric good fastness properties to washing in terms of shade change and that
is introduced into the bath at 50°C and treated for 10 minutes, then very little staining to the adjacent multifiber strip occurred. This result
raised the temperature 70°Cand the fabric are treated for 20 minutes. can be also attributed to the nature of the covalent bond characteristics.
The temperature is again raised to 98°C and the fabric is treated for 30
minutes. Dyed material is subjected to cold wash and then hot wash, Table 1 shows the colourfastness of Nylon fabrics with Orange M2R
Soaping with soap 5 gpl and soda ash 2 gpl is done at 50°C for 5 minutes. and Acid Orange with 1% shade, thewashing colour change in Reactive
It is then cold washed and material is dried at room temperature. dyed Nylon was equal to that of Acid dyed Nylon fabric. Staining on

J Textile Sci Eng Textile Recycling and its Applications ISSN: 2165-8064 JTESE, an open access journal
Citation: Sumithra M, Arasi D (2014) A Novel Method of Dyeing Nylon 6, 6 with Cold Brand Reactive Dyes and Assessment of its Fastness Properties.
J Textile Sci Eng S2: 002. doi:10.4172/2165-8064.S2-002

Page 3 of 3

Sample number Sample 1 Sample 1 Conclusion

Sample particulars Nylon reactive dyed Nylon acid dyed
The blue MRdyes used for dyeing it has well to excellent fastness
Dye particulars Blue m2r-1% Acid blue-1%
to washing and rubbing. The Light fastness was good for all the three
Colour fastness to washing
dyes used for dyeing. The fastness results depicted the image that the
Change in colour 03-Apr 03-Apr
fastness was almost equal for both Reactive dyed and acid dyed Nylon
Staining on wool 04-May 4
fabrics.Blue MR had good colour strength, when compare to acid
Staining on acrylic 04-May 5
dyes. In future, this dyeing process can be done by varying the pH 5-6,
Staining on polyester 04-May 5
temperature-50°C to 98°C and salt concentration 12 to 15%.
Staining on nylon 4 03-Apr
Staining on cotton 4 4 References
Staining on acetate 04-May 4 1. Burkinshaw SM, Young AS, Chevli SN (2000) The fastness, to repeated
Colour fastness to rubbing washing, of reactive dyes and pre-metallised acid dyes on nylon 6,6. Dyes and
Dry rubbing (staining) 04-May 04-May Pigments 45: 43-49.
Wet rubbing (staining) 4 4 2. Burkinshaw SM, Chevli SN, Marfell DJ (2000) Printing of nylon 6,6 with reactive
Colour fastness to light Light-fading 04-May 5-6 dyes; Part I: preliminary studies. Dyes and Pigments 45: 235-242.
(10 hours)
3. Burkinshaw SM, Young AS, Bide MJ (2001) The application of hetero bi-
Strength of dyes Blue mr (3% ) 1,00,310.23 functional reactive dyes to nylon 6,6; process modifications to achieve high
Table 1: Colour fastness of Nylon fabrics dyed with blue M2R and Acid blue. efficiencies. Dyes and Pigments 48: 245-251.

4. Soleimani GA, Taylor JA (2006) Dyeing of nylon with reactive dyes. Part 1. The
Wool, Acrylic, Polyester, Nylon, Cotton and Acetate was almost equal effect of changes in dye structure on the dyeing of nylon with reactive dyes.
Dyes and Pigments 68: 109-117.
in both the cases.
5. Soleimani GA,Taylor JA (2006) Dyeing of nylon with reactive dyes. Part 2.
The fastness to dry and wet rubbing was also equal in both the The effect of changes in level of dye sulphonation on the dyeing of nylon with
cases. The fastness to 10 hrs of light exposure was better in case of Acid reactive dyes. Dyes and Pigments 68: 119-127.
dyed Nylon fabrics. Among the dyes used for dyeing, Blue MR had 6. Soleimani GA, Taylor JA (2008) Dyeing of nylon with reactive dyes. Part 3:
good colour strength. Cationic reactive dyes for nylon. Dyes and Pigments 76: 610-623.

This article was originally published in a special issue, Textile Recycling and
its Applications handled by Editor. Dr. Yves-Simon Gloy, RWTH Aachen
University, Germany

J Textile Sci Eng Textile Recycling and its Applications ISSN: 2165-8064 JTESE, an open access journal