Urea/alkali-free printing of cotton with reactive dyes

Abstract

Urea reduction or elimination in reactive dye print pastes is of ecological interest. Sodium edetate is presented as a complete substitution of urea in the conventional print paste of reactive dyes, namely CI Remazol Black B and Remazol Brilliant Orange 3R using a constant amount of sodium alginate as the thickening agent. Three different print pastes containing urea/NaHCO3, sodium edetate/NaHCO3 and sodium edetate were thoroughly investigated. Different factors that may affect the printability of cotton, such as the concentrations of sodium edetate, urea, dye, absence or presence of alkali and steaming time in the prints obtained were evaluated with respect to the dye fixation, colour strength, dye penetration, levelling and the fastness properties. Excellent to good fastness was obtained for all samples irrespective of the print paste used. © 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2006 Society of Dyers and Colourists.