- Strength of Cotton is in between silk and wool. Silk is the strongest fiber.
- Cotton is less elastic than Silk.
- Cotton wrinkles as the cellulose from which it is made has hydrogen bonds that break when washed due to agitation or mechanical action. They are formed again when ironed but in different places. Read more...
- Perspiration is of two types- Alkaline and acidic. Majority of the perspiration is alkaline. Cotton is not affected by alkaline perspiration whereas silk does.
- Coloration principle involves physical absorption of water soluble dyes, transferring of dye on to fiber, dye becoming water soluble and is retained inside the fiber.
- Reactive dyes physically react with fibers and form covalent bonds. The process involves two steps: 1. Dyeing with the dye in presence of salt to effect as exhaustion as possible ( transferring of dye from solution to fabric) and 2. Chemically reacting the dye with water in presence of alkali like soda ash.
- Reactive dyes also react with the water in which they are dissolved. This is called hydrolysis of dyes. These hydrolysed dye has to be removed from the fiber by proper soaping else color fastness will be a major issue.
- Disadvantage of reactive dyes are that the hydrolysis accompanies fixation, as told earlier. Also there there is approximately 30% wastage of dye due to hydrolysis. Only 70% of the dye react with fiber. To remove hydrolysed dyes there is an excessive consumption of water. Also colored effluent discharge is a major problem. It also involves large amount of electrolyte ( Common salt) as a exhaustive agent. It is also costlier.
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