Functional Finishes & Speciality Products
Pre-treatment Chemicals are used to convert raw fiber, yarn, or fabric into substracts suitable for dyeing printing and finishing. These fibers, yarns, fabrics could be of cotton, wool, silk, synthetics and blends of those. The pre treatment processes include:
- Desizing
- Scouring, wetting (removal of oils, waxes, dirt, etc thus imparting absorbency)
- Bleaching (removal of natural coloring matter)
- Mercerizing (increasing dye-ability, lustre and strength)
- Pre-treatment requirements are as follow:
- Uniformity and levelness of effects
- High absorbency
- Low ash content
- Freedom from size
- High degree of whiteness
- Absolute absence of husks
- High dye absorbing power
Thus pre-treatment occupies a critical position in wet processing. More than 60% of the problems encountered in finished fabrics are directly attributed to lack of proper preparation.