Çelik et al. (2010) padded four commercial knits, three cotton and one viscose, with a nano-silicone softener. They conclude: “The abrasion resistance of sample fabrics deteriorates by application of nano-silicone softener.” They add: “It is the probable result of fiber mobility inside the fabric which is increased by nano-silicone softener.”
Did a nano-silicone softener reduce pilling on Çelik et al.’s cotton interlock, jersey and fleece knits?
The softener was an elastomeric polyamino siloxane, padded at 20 g/l after dyeing.
Cotton interlock: Çelik et al. report that the interlock “with nano-silicone softener has better pilling resistance than the one without nano-silicone softener during pilling resistance test.”
Cotton single jersey: this was sample 2 in the study. Çelik et al. write: “just only sample 2 exhibited no difference after nano-silicone softener application.” The jersey showed no pilling in any test, with or without the softener.
Cotton three-thread fleece: Çelik et al. write: “There is a very little difference for pilling resistance between the samples with and without nano-silicone softener.”
Did the nano-silicone finish change rubbing or washing fastness on Çelik et al.’s dyed cotton and viscose knits?
The authors conclude that “nano-silicone softener treatment has no deterioration effect on color fastness”.
Çelik et al. also note that their fabrics already had good fastness before treatment: “The sample fabrics used in this study were selected randomly from commercial products and with respect to color fastness test results of samples without nano-silicone softener have considerably good color fastness properties.”
The table gives Çelik et al.’s grades. ΔE is the shade difference between the softened and unsoftened fabric, with the unsoftened fabric as the reference. A higher fastness grade is better.
| Çelik et al. fabric | ΔE, with vs without softener | Dry rubbing, staining (without / with) | Wet rubbing, staining (without / with) | Washing, change in colour (without / with) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cotton interlock | 0.57 | 5 / 5 | 5 / 5 | 5 / 5 |
| Cotton single jersey | 0.58 | 4 / 4.5 | 4.5 / 4.5 | 4 / 5 |
| Cotton three-thread fleece | 0.21 | 4.5 / 4 | 3 / 3.5 | 4 / 5 |
| Viscose single jersey | 0.36 | 5 / 5 | 4.5 / 4 | 5 / 5 |
How did softener type and amount shift the shade of yellow reactive-dyed cotton jersey in Cimilli Duru et al.’s tests?
In Cimilli Duru et al.’s tests, more softener gave higher colour strength (K/S) with every softener type. The authors write: “regardless of softener type, increasing softener concentration caused higher K/S, probably due to lower reflection of light.”
Cimilli Duru et al. knitted single jersey from siro, ring and open-end 100% cotton yarns and dyed it with Reactive Yellow 145. They then applied three softeners at 1% and 3% solid content: a cationic ethoxylated amine, a non-ionic polyethylene emulsion blend, and an amino-functional silicone macro-emulsion.
On this yellow jersey, the silicone softener generally gave slightly higher K/S than the other two. The non-ionic softener mostly gave higher lightness (L*) than the cationic and silicone softeners. More softener tended to lower lightness for all softener and yarn types.
Cimilli Duru et al. give this advice: “Preliminary experiments should be conducted to decide the type and concentration of softener to be applied in order to reach demanded softness of the resulting fabric, and then the dyeing recipe should be fine-tuned to match the demanded color shade after finishing.”
Which softener left the most colour change on Cimilli Duru et al.’s cotton jersey after Martindale abrasion?
The silicone softener left the most colour change on Cimilli Duru et al.’s yellow cotton jersey after Martindale abrasion. The authors conclude: “Fabrics treated with silicone softeners had higher ΔL* and ΔK/S values, especially at higher concentrations.” ΔL* and ΔK/S are the change in lightness and colour strength after rubbing.
Cimilli Duru et al. give a hedged reason: “It is postulated that after abrasion testing, long molecular chains of silicone softeners break and cause a fuzzy appearance on the fabric surface, and this is amplified when the concentration is higher.”
The open-end jersey in Cimilli Duru et al.’s tests went the other way. The authors report that fabrics made from open-end yarn “had limited ΔK/S values and lower ΔL* values when treated with softeners, with a decrease from 1.2 to 0.8.” The authors suggest the softener “might have contributed to the abrasion performance of those fabrics by decreasing the friction.”
Sources
- Çelik N., Değirmenci Z., Kaynak H.K. (2010). Effect of nano-silicone softener on abrasion and pilling resistance and color fastness of knitted fabrics. Tekstil ve Konfeksiyon, 20(1), 41–47. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/218144
- Cimilli Duru S., Açıkgöz Tufan H., Şahin U.K. (2020). Assessing color differences of cotton fabrics made from different yarns after abrasion. Tekstil ve Konfeksiyon, 30(2), 108–116. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1170661
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