PROCESS OF TEXTILE DYEING AND DYED TEXTILES

Abstract

A textile is dyed by treating the textile with a composition containing 2D nano and/or microparticles of carbon and by dyeing the textile with a dye that is different from said carbon particles.

Claims

1. A process of dyeing a textile, comprising the step of preparing a composition containing carbon particles and applying said composition to textiles, characterized in that at least part of said carbon particles are 2D nanoparticles and/or 2D microparticles.

2. A process according to claim 1, wherein said carbon particles have dimensions of 0.01 to 80 microns.

3. A process according to claim 1, further comprising the step of dyeing said textile with at least one additional dye which is different from 2D nanoparticles and 2D microparticles.

4. A process according to claim 3, wherein said dye contains indigo or an indigo derivative which is applied to said textile, with a rope-dyeing process when said textile is a yarn and a dyeing process when said textile is a fabric.

5. A process according to claim 1, wherein said composition containing carbon particles is applied more than once to said textiles.

6. A process according to claim 1, wherein said textile is selected from yarns and fabrics.

7. A process according to claim 6, further comprising the step of treating said fabric in a finishing step to remove part of at least said additional dye.

8. A process according to claim 1, wherein said carbon particles are selected from graphene, graphite and mixtures thereof.

9. A dyed textile as obtainable according to the process of claim 1, comprising a plurality of 2D nanoparticles and/or 2D microparticles having dimensions in the range of 0.01 to 80 microns.

10. A dyed textile according to claim 9 further comprising an additional dye, different from carbon particles.

11. A dyed textile according to claim 10, wherein said additional dye comprises indigo or an indigo derivative.

12. A dyed textile according to claim 11, wherein at least said textile is ring-dyed.

13. A garment comprising a textile according to claim 10.

14. A garment according to claim 13, wherein part of the additional dye or of said additional dye and of said carbon particles has been removed from the textile.

15. A composition for a process of dyeing a textile according to claim 1, comprising carbon particles and at least a binder and/or an auxiliary chemical, said composition being configured to apply said carbon particles to a textile, characterized in that said carbon particles are 2D nanoparticles and/or 2D microparticles having dimensions of 0.01 to 80 microns.

16. A method for dyeing a textile with 2D carbon nano or microparticles to provide an undercoating for the application of a dye.

Description

[0025] The invention will now be further disclosed with reference to the following non-limiting examples and figures, in which:

[0026] FIG. 1 is schematic illustration of the effect of successive treatments of a yarn with a composition of the invention;

[0027] FIG. 2 is a picture of three fabrics, two according to the invention and one a comparative example;

[0028] FIG. 3 is a graph showing the spectral definition of the fabrics of FIG. 2;

[0029] FIG. 4 is a picture of an untwisted yarn showing how the ring effect is maintained in the process of the invention;

[0030] FIG. 5 is a picture of a fabric according to the invention vs. two control fabrics; and

[0031] FIG. 6 is a graph showing the lightness values of the three fabrics of FIG. 5.

[0032] As above mentioned, the invention process provides for preparing a composition containing carbon particles and treating a textile with the said composition; an additional step of dyeing the treated textile with an additional known dye suitable to be used with the said textile may also be provided by the invention method. The additional dyeing step is preferably performed on a textile treated with a composition comprising 2D nano- and/or micro-particles; a textile may also be treated with a composition comprising 2D nano- and/or micro-particles and other carbon particles, e.g. nanoparticles of amorphous carbon.

[0033] Preferably the textile is selected from yarns and fabrics, more preferably the textile is a yarn. Yarns may be treated with the invention compositions via rope dyeing process; the treated yarn may be subsequently be indigo dyed to obtain a ring-dye effect and may then be used to provide a fabric.

[0034] By treating the textile with the invention compositions an undercoating layer is obtained, e.g. in the form of a ring of carbon particles, located essentially in the outer thickness, or outer layer, of the yarns, as shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 also shows the corresponding results of repeated treatment of the yarn or fabric with carbon particles compositions: darker shades of grey/black are progressively obtained. Undercoating of carbon particles is done preferably by dip dyeing process, which is known per se in the art.

[0035] FIGS. 2 and 3 show a comparison between three different fabrics, i.e. fabrics A, B and C. Fabric A is a fabric dyed according to the invention process, by using a composition containing 2D carbon particles and by performing an additional dyeing step with indigo; fabric B is a fabric dyed only with indigo in a traditional way and fabric C is a fabric treated with only a composition according to the invention, without additional dye treatment. FIG. 3 shows the K/S readings of fabrics A-C obtained from Datacolor Spectrum Equipment (K/S is a function of frequency). The dotted line shows a K/S value of the ecru fabric C treated with a composition of carbon particles according to the invention.

[0036] It is noticed that the 2D carbon particles, particularly 2D microparticles, make the absorbance of the material nearly flat across the visible spectrum. Dashed line is the spectral response of fabric B, i.e. of an ordinary indigo dyeing on the ecru fabric; the continuous line shows the K/S values of fabric A, i.e. the fabric where the ecru fabric C first undercoated with the carbon source has been then dyed with indigo. As a result of the flat absorbance of the undercoat, darker shade is achieved without changing the spectral response of the desired colour and without using higher concentrations of the dye itself (in this case of indigo) as otherwise would be necessary if a traditional dyeing system and process is used.

[0037] FIG. 4 schematically shows the ring effect obtainable with the process of the invention on a yarn treated with carbon 2D particles and further dyed with indigo. The picture shows a partially un-twisted carbon+indigo dyed yarn in which the dyed outer fibers and the white inner core are well visible. Thanks to the enhanced ring dyeing effect obtainable according to the invention, a fabric according to the invention can provide a wider variety of effects than known fabrics, upon washes and other known finishing treatments, including rinse wash, enzyme wash and stone wash.

EXAMPLE 1

[0038] Five fabrics were subjected to consecutive dip-dry treatment by a composition of the invention to provide different undercoatings of carbon particles, namely graphene particles. Undercoating of carbon particles was done by dipping-drying method. Concentration of graphene in the composition was 3.7 g/L. Indigo concentration in a formulation which was used as a top (i.e. additional) dye was 1.10% by weight of the indigo containing formulation.

[0039] The graphene particles were 2D nano- and microparticles having dimension in a range of 0.5-2.0 microns. Graphene composition was water based; in addition to the nano- and micro-particles the composition included 2 g/L emulsifying agent, 10 g/L binder, 5 g/L of thickening agents, 5 g/L of wetting agents, 20 g/L of softening agents and 0.5 g/L of antifoaming agents.

[0040] All the samples were treated in the same graphene particles composition; fabric sample #1 was dipped-dried only once while sample #2 is dipped-dried twice, sample #3 was treated three times, sample #4 four times and sample #5 five times.

[0041] All the five samples were subsequently dyed with the same indigo dyeing treatment, which is also carried out onto an untreated fabric (reference fabric). Absolute L* values (detected with Datacolor spectrophotometer measurements) were obtained: each dip-dry treatment gives darker shades to the fabrics by each consecutive treatment, with the reference having an L* value of 25.9 and samples 1-5 having L* values decreasing from 25.0 to 23.8.

[0042] FIG. 5 shows the picture of three fabrics including indigo dyed fabric F as a reference, fabric F was obtained by indigo dyeing the fabric, without any previous treatment. Fabric E is a fabric treated according to the invention, i.e. a fabric having an undercoating with graphene 2D particles as disclosed in the present example and indigo dyed; control fabric D was treated to provide an undercoating for indigo with other chemicals, namely auxiliary chemicals (wetting agent, softening agent etc.), excluding carbon particles.

[0043] Lightness (L) values, visible in FIG. 6, also show that a darker shade of the fabric is deriving from the presence of the carbon source. Shaded fabric (E) is 8.4% darker than the reference indigo dyed fabric (F) while control fabric (D) is 2.2% lighter than the reference.

[0044] From the above it is clear that the use of 2D carbon microparticles and nanoparticles (the 2D particles having a preferred range of dimensions of 0.5 to 2.0 micronsi.e. 500 nanometres to 2.0 microns) to treat a textile in a dyeing process before applying a dye, provides several advantages to the process. Namely, it results in lower consumption of dye and water and chemicals used in the dye process because of the colour basis, or undercoating, that is provided by the 2D carbon nano- and/or microparticles. At the same time, the final colour of the textile is not jeopardized by the use of the carbon particles of the invention.