A non-aqueous dyeing process of reactive dye on cotton

Based on previous work, the feasible method for dyeing cotton with reactive dye in dye/decamethyl cyclopentasiloxane (D5) suspension system was re-established by increasing the system stability using selected surfactants, and taking the color depth (K/S value) as the evaluation index, the dyeing process parameters such as temperature, dyeing duration, pick-up ratio of alkali solution on fabric, as well as the alkali concentration were optimized further for setting up dyeing conditions. The dyeing results produced by new method showed that the dye uptake could reach nearly 100% without any salt as accelerating agent. Since just a little water was used in the process, hydrolysis of reactive dyes was restrained, fixing rate was increased, and the apparent color depth of the dyed sample was much better than traditional water bath dyeing. The washing fastness and rubbing fastness of samples were satisfactory.