Coloration of electrospun polystyrene (PS) microfibers by the continuous dyeing method

Herein the research on coloration of polystyrene (PS) microfibers with disperse dyes by the pad-dry-cure method has been reported. The PS microfibers were fabricated via electrospinning technique and pretreated with a wetting agent (Hostapal MRN) for 5 min prior to padding in dye liquor for over-coming hydrophobicity and improving dye up-take. The microfiber samples were dipped and nipped twice in the dye solutions and between the padding-mangles, respectively. The curing temperature and curing time were optimized to be 80 °C and 90 s, respectively. The influence of effect of dye concentrations on K/S values was also studied. Highest K/S values were obtained at 3% dye concentrations. The optimized samples demonstrated good to very good color bleeding resistance in color fastness to washing, light and hot-pressing. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) did not show any significant effect of the dyeing process on morphology and chemical structures of the PS microfibers.