Soil Repellent Finish

Fabric and Garment Finishing

The Changes occur in fabric after finishing the
material with Soil Repellent Finish

Amandeep Singh

BFT/17/L1

Rishi Raj

BFT/16/118
What is Soil Repellency?

 Soil repellents are topical finishes applied to fabrics to provide protection against
soil/dirt.
 Does not allow soil to accumulate on fabric, throws away dirt whenever it falls on fabric.
 Soil repellent finishes hold dirt and oily stains on the surface of the textile for a time so
they can be readily removed.
 It is important to blot the spill quickly, as the soil or spill can work its way into the fibers
after a period of time.

Why to apply Soil Repellency Finish?

Soil Repellent finishes add value to textile products. In addition to providing protection
against water, oil and soil, these finishes also extend the life of products and keep them looking
newer longer

When to apply Soil Repellency Finish?

Durable soil repellent finishes are mostly applied to fabrics after dyeing and/or printing
but before the fabrics are made into garments. Other finishes can also be applied to garments.
There is not one single process for applying repellent finishes to textile fabrics. The process
employed in the finishing largely depends on the chemicals to be used, the fabric type and the
available machinery.

Compounds:

Soil repellency can be achieved with many types of finishes, including waxes, oils and
silicones.

 Specially designed silicone emulsion

 Fluoro-carbon
 Silicones are used for natural fibers – solid dirt
 Fluoro-carbons (non-sticking) are used for synthetic- liquid soil
 Cationic softeners- semi permanent
 Paraffin wax emulsion and non-ionic softeners (temporary finish)
 Quaternary ammonium compounds.

Changes in Nature of Textile Material after applying soil repellent finish:

 Material is coated on surface such that soil slips.

 Repellent finishes achieve their properties by reducing the free energy at fibre surfaces.
  Low energy surfaces provides a measure of soil repellency
o By preventing soil particles from strongly adhering to fibre surfaces.
o The low interaction allows the soil particles to be easily dislodged and removed
by chemical action.
 The coated layer Do not form ionic bond with soil, hence the soil skids away.
 Reduces permeability of fabrics, hence not comfortable closes interstices. It is major
disadvantage to use Soil Repellency finish in Garments.
 Makes the handle of fabric stiff.
 Poor wear comfort.
 Soil drops are not allowed to flatten and the droplets are slide away from the surface.
 Undesirable fabric properties are often found with Repellent finishes. These includes
problem with:
1. Static Electricity
2. Poor soil removal in aqueous laundering.
3. Greying (soil redeposition) during aqueous laundering.
 Some fabric properties are often improved by Repellent finishes.
o Better durable press properties
o More rapid drying and ironing.
o Increased resistance to acids,basesand other chemicals.
 This finish is more succesfull on woven than knitted as there is closed packed structure
with small interyarn spaces with fine yarns because of more and uniform distribution of
repellent finish.
 Removal of protruding fibres by shearing and singeing before applying finish gives better
results.
 Any residual sizing agent or surfactant present on the fabric can defeat the repellency
properties.

How to achieve the finish?

After finishes are applied to fabrics, they must be dried. In some cases, curing is
necessary to achieve the ideal level of performance on finished fabrics. Chemicals with strong
affinities for the surface of fibers can be applied by exhaustion in dyeing machines, usually after
the dyeing process has been completed. In this process, the textile fabric is loaded into a
machine containing the finishing chemical for a period of minutes to hours, depending on the
time required for the chemical to react with the textile fabric.
  Padding is another process of applying repellent finishes to textile
fabrics.
 Foams are used to apply finishes to textile fabrics to reduce the amount
of water used in the finishing processes.
 Spraying Repellent finishes can be sprayed directly onto fabric surfaces.

There are many finishes on the market that claim to provide soil and stain repellants for
fabrics. Some of them are:

 Scotchguard
 Teflon
 Zepel
 NanoTex
 GreenShield
 Crypton Gree
Durability:

Soil repellent finishes are available as either durable or non-durable. If the treatment is
applied to the fabric when it is manufactured or when it's sent to a fabric finishing company, it
is durable. Topical application from a spray can or in the back room of a furniture warehouse is
non-durable. The required performance level of the Soil Repellent finish is dependent on the
apparel products, their intended uses and other important factors such as their durability to
laundering and dry cleaning, resistance to abrasion and fabric breathability.

Uses:

Soil repellent finishes are very useful in sports wear, soft luggages, carpeting and
upholstery and are desirable in draperies and fabric window shades.

Types of fabric performance attributes:

The performance of Soil Repellency finishes on textile products is a complex property to

evaluate. Performance is not based on a single fabric attribute that a Soil Repellency finish
delivers but instead, a combination of several attributes.

Performance requirement:

The required performance level of soil repellent finishes depend on the intended use of the
textile product in addition to fabric type, required fabric weight, and expected number of
laundering cycles of product. There is not a single acceptable performance level for soil
repellent finishes on textile products. Required performance levels are set by brands or
retailers selling the finished textile products and vary considerably from one brand or retailer to
the next and from one fabric or product to another, and often constitute intellectual property
of the brand or retailer in question.

Test Methods

Generally, test methods such as those developed by the American Association of Textile
Chemists and Colorists (AATCC), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) are employed in evaluating the performance
levels of finishes applied on fabrics. Similar to required performance levels, the test method
employed in evaluating performance of fabrics or products also vary by brand or retailer. To
add to the complexity of evaluating performance, more than one test method even from the
same organization (e.g. AATCC) can used to evaluate the same fabric attribute. There are well-
known brand names for soil repellent finishes, such as 3M's Scotchgard[TM] and DuPont's
Teflon® finish. many such products are available in the market with varying , durability.

3M Dry Soil resistance test:

Sample of treated fabric is shaken in a sealed container with a standard dry soil. Loose
soil is removed with compressed air and the appearance of fabric is compared to photographic
standards.

References:-

https://oecotextiles.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/soil-and-stain-resistant-finishes/

https://outdoorindustry.org/pdf/FINALZDHCP05DWR%20ResearchNov2012.pdf

Quality assurance for textiles and apparel by Sara J. Kadolph