One bath dyeing of cellulosic blends

A number of one bath methods have been developed for cellulosic blend dyeing. Disperse/direct dyeing of cotton/nylon or polyester is well known although of little practiced use because of the poor wet fastness, except in the pale shades.

Disperse/Reactive:
Methods based on hot dyeing reactive dyes in which the disperse and reactive dyes are added to the bath with 5 gram/liter of Resist salt L (m-nitro-sodium-benzene-sulphuric acid) which prevents hydrolysis of reactive group. Dyeing of polyester is first carried out at 120°C. Then the bath is cooled to 80°C. Electrolyte is added and dyeing of the cotton proceeds in the usual way.

Disperse/Vat:
Disperse and vat (pigment) dyes are added to the bath plus a large quantity of dispersing agent. Dyeing at 100° to 130°C proceeds. Then the bath is cooled to 80°C and caustic soda and hydros are added and dyeing of the cotton carried out. There are several Union dyes (Cottestren) on the market using this principle. These commercial blends have to be formulated for a predetermined fibre mix and may turn out to be uneconomic for a customer's particular end use and further more may not give solid shade dyeing under adverse conditions of applications.

Nylon/Cotton:
A Hoechst patent for single bath application reactive/metal complex dyes has the following method. A dyestuff and alkali to give a pH of 8 to 12 and raise temperature to 80°C to dye the cotton. The pH is then reduced to 6.5 to 7 by the addition acid. The temperature is raised to 95°C and the nylon portion is dyed. Acid dyes will precipitate under these conditions, metal complex dyes will not.