Effect of Tannic Acid on the Dyeing Process of Nylon 6 Fabric with Cationic Dye

Nylon 6 fabric is pretreated with tannic acid and subsequently dyed with a cationic dye, Rhodamine B, from an aqueous dye solution and emulsion phase. The emulsion phase of n-hexadecane is emulsified by isopropyl alcohol and stabilized by Rhodamine B/tannic acid complex. Different factors affecting pretreatment and dyeing process have been studied. Changes of moisture regain, tensile strength, elongation and binding stiffness of the pretreated fabric are investigated. The FTIR spectra of tannic acid pretreatment of nylon are also examined. The pretreated fabric with 10% owf tannic acid shows a slight increase in the tensile strength and elongation percentage. A higher moisture regain and binding stiffness are observed with increases in the amount of tannic acid. The results also indicate that the pretreatment for cationic dyed nylon 6 fabrics with tannic acid promote a higher dye uptake and cationic dye-based emulsion system with better fastness properties relative to those of the dye solution based system. A further improvement in wet fastness is secured by an aftertreatment of all dyed fabrics with a commercial anionic fluorescent whitening agent, Uvitex ® RSB 150%.