Why water softener use in Textile industry?

Operation that improves the physical characteristics of the fabric is known as Finishing.  Softener is a finishing agent that when used to textile material improves its handle giving a nice touch to the fabric.

As a general rule, the softening agents used are lubricating chemicals, which facilitate the fibre sliding within the fabric structure, and hence granting easier deformation and creasing of the fabric. In many cases, the duration of the effect is limited since the products applied during the treatment are eliminated by frequent washing; due to this reason they must be applied in the final stage of the treatment.

The most common softeners are explained below:

>NON-IONIC SOFTENERS:

These are mostly ethers and polyglycol esters, ethylated products, paraffin’s and fats. These softening agents have mostly less efficacy than anionic and cationic ones but they withstand the effects of hard waters, acid or basic environment and also are stable in presence of cations and anions. As they do not bear any charge, they are mostly applied by forced application such as padding methods.

>ANIONIC SOFTENERS:  

Anionic softeners are taken from the condensation of fatty acids. They have good properties as lubricating softening agents and give the fabric a full hand.  They are not stable in hard water and acidic environment. Anionic finishing agents have negatively charged or anionic hydrophilic group. The cellulose takes up negative charge when wetted out and attracts the positively charged hydrophobic group or water hating, with hydrophilic or water loving group orienting away from the fibre surface.

Anionic softeners are heat stable at textile processing temperature and compatible with other parts of dye and bleach baths. They can easily be washed  and gives strong antistatic effects and good rewetting properties because their anionic groups are oriented outward and are surrounded by a thick hydration layer. They are mostly used for special applications, like medical textiles, or in combination with anionic fluorescent brightening agents.

>CATIONIC SOFTENERS:

These are mostly quaternary ammonium salts, amino-esters and amino-amides. These are recommended for all types of fibre, and can be also applied with exhaustion process in acid environment. These are also known as molecular finishing agents because they form bonds with the cationic group on the surface of the fibre generally with negative electric potential. They can give some problem in presence of large anions, and they can cause change in dye toning, or a reduction in fastness to light values in the presence of direct and reactive dyes.

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