Dyeing Wool Knitted Fabric in Nano-scale Reverse Micelle with Reactive Dyes — A Computer Colour Matching Study

Abstract

The colour quality assessment of reverse micelle-based (in octane or nonane medium) and conventional water-based dyed wool knitted fabric has been investigated using computer colour matching (CCM) approach. Both water-based and non-aqueous based dyeing methods exhibited no chromatic shift from the reflectance curves and established good linearity in the construction of calibration curves. The linearity of both calibration curves in terms of R2 value played a critical role in CCM. The colour yield obtained from reverse micellar dyed fabric samples was higher than the colour yield values from wool knitted fabrics dyed in water bath under different dye percentages. The CCM predicted concentrations were in good agreement to theoretical concentrations for both dyeing systems. To conclude, the results showed that reverse micellar dyeing in octane and nonane is capable of generating reliable colour recipes. The relative unlevelness indices (RUI) obtained from dyed wool knitted fabrics using reverse micellar approach reveal good to excellent levelness, which fulfills the requirements of the textile processing industry. TEM picture illustrated that reverse micelles are in nano-scale and this could enhance the dyeing effect of wool with reactive dyes.