FABRIC SCIENCE-3

ASSIGNMENT-1

NISHANT RAMAN
BFT/17/1380
DESIZING

Desizing is the process in which the size applied to the warp yarn before
weaving is removed to facilitate the penetration of dyes and chemicals in
the subsequent wet processing operations. About 65% of the cotton used
for textiles is made into woven fabric. The purpose of sizing is to form
coating of sufficiently strong and elastic film around the cotton warp yarns
so as to stand the tension during weaving and reduce the breakage. The
surface coating of sizes are stuff, hard, smooth and less absorbant to
water.

In synthetic fibre the nature of sizes and sizing ingredients are different.
Synthetic yarns are stronger and hence increasing strength by sizing is not
the aim and adhesion of the sizing material to the yarn is also difficult.

Starch sizing of man-made fibres possess many problems when yarns

are slashed and fabrics are woven.

Furthermore, with the introduction of textured synthetic fibre yarns,

blended fibre fabrics, introduction of jet looms, system of dyeing and sizing
together, permanent application of sixing, solvent sizing etc., change the
platform of sizing with the conventional sizing ingredients.

Sizing is necessary to ensure that yarns are adequately protected during

weaving as the modern looms operate at very high speeds, causing
excessively high abrasion to the yarn. Starch is the preferred sizing agent
for cotton and blends. To ensure that fabric is well prepared for dyeing and
further processing, all size must be removed adequately and uniformly.
Failure to remove the size ingredients can result in poor absorbency,
uneven dyeing, poor batch-to-batch shade reproducibility, improper printing
and inadequate finishing resulting in poor fabric hand feel. Thus, enzymatic
desizers are deciders of effective fabric processing.
Methods of Desizing:-

Desizing of cotton fabric can be accomplished by physical, chemical or

combonation of physical and chemical mechanism. In desizing, the
starches and polymers that are applied which are insoluble, are converted
into water soluble compound to ease their removal. This is accomplished
by transferring the starch into their simple sugars or simple water soluble
polymers. The synthetic sizes used for man-made fibres are generally
water soluble and they are removed during the scouring operation.

1. Rot steeping
In this method grey cotton fabric is steeped in water in suitable box
at a temperature of about 30-40oC. During the storage micro-
organism develop excreting enzymes which attack the starch. The
swollen and hydrolysed starch is thus partially converted into soluble
state which are then removed from the fabric by normal washing with
water. The main problems in this method are low efficiency due to
longer treatment time and degradation of cellulose due to cross-
infections of mildew if the fermentation process is not properly
controlled.

2. Acid desizing
In this method cotton fabric is treated with dilute sulphuric acid with
a concentration of 5-10 g/l at a temperature of about 40oC for 3-4 hrs.
Dilute acid attacks the polymer chain of starch and due to chain
cleavage of starch molecule short water soluble or dispersible chain
segments are formed. With sulphuric acid higher than 10g/l and
above 50oC there is always the possibility of weakening the cloth or
causing holes {3,4}, The treated cloth must not be allowed to dry at all
otherwise degradation of cotton will occur at the dried are. Rise I
temperature increases the rate of reaction, but at the same time there
is possibility of attacking the cellulosic chain. Generally, the rate of
reaction doubles for each 10oC rise in temperature. The acid-steeping
method is particularly suitable for cotton varieties containing large
metal contents as the mineral acid converts the metals to their
corresponding sulphate which are water soluble. The degraded
starch is removed from the fabric by normal washing treatment.
 3. Enzymatic desizing
The word enzyme is from the greek words for ‘in yeast’ and was
coined in 1876 by the German biochemist Willey Kuhne. Enzymes
are organic biocatalysts highly specific both in the reaction catalyzed
and their choice of reactants (substrate). Enzymatic desizing is the
classical desizing process of degrading starch size on cotton fabrics
using enzymes. Enzymes are quite specific in their action on a
particular substance. A small quantity of enzyme is able to
decompose a large quantity of the substance it acts upon. Enzymes
are usually named by the kind of substance degraded in the reaction
it catalyzes.
Amylases are the enzymes that hydrolyses and reduce the molecular
weight of amylose and amylopectin molecules in starch, rendering it
water-soluble enough to be washed off the fabric.
Effective enzymatic desizing require strict control
of pH, temperature, water hardness, electrolyte addition and choice
of surfactant.

Factors affecting enzyme activity

 Substrate concentration - the rate of enzyme activity increases with

substrate concentration at lower level up to a certain point and then
slows down.
 pH value - the amino acids and other ionisable groups in enzyme
may get ionised at lower or higher pH effecting its activity.
 Temperature - with increase in temperature, the reaction rate
increases due to "thermal energy", but with further increase in
temperature, the rate decreases due to thermal denaturation.
 Activators - presence of specific bivalent metal cation can activate
enzyme reaction. Such metal ions stabilise the structure of enzyme-
substrate complex or sensitize the substrate to the attack of enzyme
or take part in the ion exchange process.
 Inhibitors - certain alkalis, acids and antiseptic tend to inhibit enzyme
activity.
 4. Desizing with oxidising agents
Though the use of oxidants for desizing of cotton fabric is widely
accepted but their large scale industrial application is yet to be
explained. The most important aspects of oxidizing agents are that
they can be applicable to wide range of fabrics, the size content of
which is often not known table given below summmarises the
necessary conditions for desizing starch in presence of some
important oxidizing agents.
In oxidative desizing, the risk of damage to the cellulose fiber is very
high, and its use for desizing is increasingly rare. Oxidative desizing
uses potassium or sodium persulfate or sodium bromite as
an oxidizing agent.

Desizing Conditions with Oxidising Agents:-

Oxidising agent Process Additives pH Time Temp.

(min) (oC)
Hydrogen peroxide Pad-steam 1-2vol. H2O3, 8-9 1-5 90
7-15g/l NaOH

Sodium bromite Pad- 1-3g/l active Br2, 7.5- 15 20-40

batch(cold) 20-30g/l Caustic soda, 8.5
5-10g/l Wetting agent

Persulphate Pad-steam 3-6g/l Na-persulphate. 10- 1-3 95-100

8-10g/l Caustic soda, 10.5
5-10g/l Wetting agent

Persulphate+H2O2 Cold-batch 40ml/l H2O2 (25%) 10- 6-20 20-40

10g/l Persulphate, 10.5
10ml/l Water glass,
10ml/l NaOH
5g/l Stabiliser,
5g/l Wetting agent
Desizing Machineries

The desizing processes are very much dictated by economics in terms of

the chemical or enzyme consumption, the equipment available and the end
use requirements. With the introduction of J-boxes and other continuous
preparatory methods and equipment, desizing is gradually loosing its
identity as a separate process.
Simultaneously desizing and scouring can also be carried out in kiers by
a judicious choice of chemicals. Desizing in the batch process can be
carried out in jig or winch or in a kier prior to boil-off.
For small lots, for example of the order of 1000m or less desizing can be
carried in jigs or rope washing machines.
KIER

Kiers are cylindrical vessels especially designed to carry out scouring of cotton in rope
form. Kiers may be open where scouring is carried out at boil at atmosphere pressure or
may be closed to carry out scouring at high temperature and pressure. The material of
construction is generally steel or cast-iron in which case the inner side is rendered passive
by a coat of sodium silicate, cement and magnesium sulphate.
The kier has a perforated false bottom, located about 18 inches above the base. The
fabric is piled on it either manually or by a mechanical plier. It is important to lay the fabric
in an even manner otherwise channels of least resistance may form leading to uneven
scouring. The movement of fabric during boiling may be avoided by putting heavy weights
over the fabric pile.
The capacity of a kier is generally 2 tons but may vary from 0.5 to 5 tons.
The circulation of the liquor is maintained
by passing stream in the kier through a
central piper (puffer) through a hole in the
perforated bottom. The steam draws liquor
with it which hits a curved baffle plate
above the goods & is distributed over the
surface of the fabric. The liquor gradually
percolates down the pile below the
perforated bottom from where it is again
forced through the buffer pipe by the
steam pressure. Use of steam to circulate
liquor as well as heat it is not very efficient
and economical. Moreover, steam
condensation may result in an increase in
M: L ratio which is generally maintained at
~1:3. Hence many modern kiers use
external heat exchangers and the
circulation is maintained by a powerful
centrifugal pump.

For scouring of cotton in kiers, it is important that all air is forced out from the system as
cotton can be oxidized into oxycellulose in presence of air in hot alkaline liquors. This is
ensured by heating the liquor to 90°C & then stopping heating and circulation for 10- 15
min. the steam and air is allowed to escape from a valve. The liquor is heated again & air
is allowed to escape periodically till only steam emerges out from the valve. After this the
valve may be closed & scouring continued for desired time.
Jigger
Jigger is one of the oldest fabric processing machines and can be used for pre-treatment
and dyeing of textile fabrics. It is used for processing of fabrics in open width, tensioned
form. Hence those fabrics which can be withstand tension and must not be creased during
processing can be processed on jigger.
Jigger consists of a V-shaped trough. Two steel or ebonite rollers are fitted above the
trough over which the fabric to be treated is wound in roll form. Fabric passes from one
roller trough guide rollers in the trough to the other roller. Since most the fabric in roll form
remains out of the trough, a low ML ratio (3-4) can be maintained.
During the process, the fabric in open width form unwinds from one roller, passes through
guide rollers in the trough & winds on the other roller. When all the fabric from first roller is
transferred to the second roller, a reversal mechanism is activated & the direction of the
fabric movement is changed from second roller to the first. This process continuous till the
treatment is over. Complete transfer of the entire fabric length from one roller to the other
is known as one end or turn. For a given process, the no. of turn depends on the
residence time required for the process. Each end may take 10-15 min.
The liquor in the trough may be heated by steam running through pipes in trough & having
perforations. Early jiggers were open but now a days they come equipped with top covers
to minimize heat loss through evaporation.
Old jiggers
Trough
- 200 l
capacity
- 500-1000
Fabric length
m

Modern high capacity jiggers-

Trough capacity - 750 l
Fabric length - ~5000 m
An additional roller is placed on fabric wound roller such that it squeezes out liquor from
the fabric into the trough.
Jiggers can be used for desizing, scouring or even bleaching of textile fabrics.

Winch
It is another old processing equipment which processes fabrics in rope form. It is suitable
for all those fabric which can withstand creasing during rope form processing. One of the
major differences a winch has with a jigger is lower amount of tension working on fabrics
during processing. During processing, most of the fabric remains submersed in a deep
trough which increases M:L ratio (1:20 or 25) as compared to a jigger. Due to much lower
lengthwise tension imposed on the fabric, winches are better suited for processing of
delicate fabrics like knits & woollens.

In winch the fabric is processed in the form of an endless loop. The fabric is piled over the
sloping bottom of a deep trough (figure below). At the deeper end of the trough, the fabric
rises & passes over a 15 cm diameter reel
known as jockey or flyer and then over a
much larger elliptical winch reel. The
rotation of the winch reel provides the
motion to the fabric. There is no positive
grip between the fabric and the reel. The
fabric movement takes place due to the
friction and the weight of wet fabric.

At a time one and more ropes can be dyed. When dyeing multiple ropes, separation is
maintained by a peg rail. The peg rail runs through the width of machine and is located at
about 20 cm above liquor level.
The main chamber of winch is divided into two parts by a perforated stainless steel sheet.
The smaller chamber situated towards the front of the machine is used for making
additions of dyes & auxiliaries as well as for housing the steam pipes.
The M:L ratio in winches is high, generally around 1:25. Winch provides little sideways
movement of the fabric, as it can result in entanglement. Most of the fabric remains in the
form of a slowly moving pile at the machine bottom. This can result in uneven dyeing. The
high M:L ratio also results in poor dye exhaustion of low substantivity dyes.
Winches can be used for desizing, scouring, bleaching or even washing of textile fabrics.
REFERENCES:-

 Website:http://www.indiantextilejournal.com/articles/FAdetail
s.asp?id=5093

 Website:https://nptel.ac.in/courses/116102016/39

 Book:Chemical Preparatory Processess by Karmakar

THANK YOU