Fragrance Finishing of Textiles: Finishing Techniques and Future Scope

Last Updated on 15/10/2021

Fragrance Finishing of Textiles

Rohan BS Patil
Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India.
Email: rohanbspatil@gmail.com

Fragrance Finishing of Textiles
Now days it is possible apply fragrance in Textile by Printing and Finishing Method. Generally Fragrance is volatile in nature, evaporates easily in atmospheric temperature but by using different techniques or by treating fragrance applied textile for different temperature then it is possible to keep fragrance in textile for a long time. Another thing is Aroma finish. Aroma finish is for fabric or garment which on abrasion or rubbing emits perfume smell, when fabric is lying idle its capsules are closed hence don’t emit aromas. The finish is wash durable; Perfumes used in aroma finish are safe for children garments. The type of perfume used in this finish ware different and applied as per demand. It is special type of finishing.

When the fabric gets abraded with our body, the Fragmatic or aromatic atoms are broken out and produce fragrance odor. Finally, the developed product has been subjected to perfume or aromatic finish. Hence, the finish has Called as Fragrance finish. Fragrance Finish is Finish which apply on textile with fragrance or fragrance is added during of Printing or Finishing process.

Recently, fragrances have become available that can be readily added on the textiles and after finishing and fixation; they emit a pleasant fragrance which is sometimes used as a medicine renowned with the term of “Aroma-chology”.

Fragrance finishing of textiles is the process where we enhance the value of the product by adding some incentives to it. The world market place is continuously changing and so is demand of people changing .Every person desires for some change .i.e. something new & unique.

Generally speaking, varied perfumed fabrics create good opportunities for customers to make the ‘cocooning’ environment they prefer to live in. In other areas, household textiles such as curtains, sofas, cushions, sheets, as well as apparel items such as gloves, socks and ties may also be treated with microencapsulated fragrance and deodorizing finishes. The carpets can be finished with fragrances of different kinds and can be widely used in home textiles as well as automotive textiles. The fabric production rate is very tremendous and the market has limited scope which can be multiplied by value added finishing to textiles like fragrance finish which counts more value in the current scenario of market.

I have done one project in this project, printing and finishing was carried out. Printing was done on various substrates like 100% Cotton, Cotton Poplin, Gabardine, P/C blend etc. with various dyes and pigments. After printing, finishing was carried on the printed fabric. The finish applied was a fragrance finish, softness finish, freshness finish and also combination of finish applied above. The printing paste along with fragrance was also printed on the above substrate.

Result and Discussion
In this project, finishing and printing have been evaluated to observe the durability of the finish as specially aroma finish on the printed fabric. Various trials have been undertaken on different substrates to evaluate aroma finishing of the printed and finished fabric. In the beginning cotton fabric was printed with different recipe. Similarly Cotton/Polyester blend, cotton poplin, Cotton gabardine is used to print the fabric. In this project fragrance was applied in pigment printing, reactive printing, Tie and dye method, crimp style method and also fragrance was applied on a printed sample by padding method.

The fragrance finish was applied along with Solusoft finish and Beewell finish which is a softner and wellness finish. Three type of perfumes were used in this printing and finishing method namely Rose, Mogara and Dove. All fragrances ware alcohol free fragrance so when fragrance applied to fabric, it remains on fabric but not for a long time.

On printing, the fragrance was subjected to high temperature the most of fragrance got evaporated because it is volatile at low temperature. It was observed that curing at 120 o centigrade and curing at 150⁰ Centigrade on finishing with fragrance are different, so at 150 o centigrade, the fragrance gets totally evaporated. Therefore after printing, room temperature drying compared with drying at 80o c and curing at 110o centigrade and 120o centigrade the sample still has fragrant odor. To begin with pigment printing was carried out with cotton substrate by using pigment and synthetic thickener.

Thus for Reactive printing, drying was done both at room temperature and 80º Centigrade and steaming is done at 100º Centigrade for 5 min. When fragrance was applied on the substrate by printing and finishing method, strong fragrance remain on the substrate after drying but not after steaming. Since most of fragrance got evaporated but still some fragrance was remain on the substrate. In case of printing and finishing, fragrance was applied on substrate by padding method. After finishing, fabric was dried at room temperature and at 80º Centigrade and cure at different temperature at different time. When fabric was dried at 80º Centigrade and at room temperature then it was found that fragrance with strong odor but after drying finished substrate subject to high temperature during curing fragrance got evaporated. So it is clear that printed sample or Finish applied sample when subjected to high temperature fragrance get evaporated. Fragrance applied in another method i.e. Tie and dye method and Crimp style printing.

The fabric tied and soaked in fragrance solution for 30 minutes and then taken for dyeing with reactive cold brand, after dyeing fragrance remain at room temperature and after drying, washing and soaping the fabric retain very little amount of fragrance only for two washes. In yet another method, the tied fabric was kept in fragrance solution for 15 minutes and then soaked for 15 minutes in starch thickener in starch thickener and followed by sodium alginate thickener followed by drying and washing. Moderate odor remained on substrate. The use of sodium alginate and starch thickener was to hold fragrance but it was seen that most of the odor evaporated.

Crimp style of printing was carried out using caustic soda palates and starch thickener along with fragrance on 100 % cotton so there was negligible fragrance left on substrate.

Reactive Dye was used i.e. Cold Brand, Hot brand and Vinyl sulfone, each giving different result when it was applied on different substrate by printing and finishing methods. Moderate odor and slightly odor present in most of the cases. In Tie and Dye Method and Crimp style technique, almost fragrance absent means there was no Odor or Threshold Odor according to the Subjective analysis.

Conclusion
At the initial stage of printing, this printing work was done by hand but day by day this style is changing by utilizing different modern techniques. Now different types of critical printing is done very easily by the bless of modern science. Most of the printing machines are controlled by the computer. Graphics design is mostly use in printing process. Different types of textile machine manufacturing companies trying to improve the present techniques of printing methods.

Anyhow, printing process plays an important role in the civilized world. Multiple colors can be use in printing process. Sometimes printing properties show the identity of a nation. So, we should give great emphasis on printing process to produce different types of attractive design on textile materials.

The fragrance finished textiles are very new in the current market and they have gained the much more importance in day to day life. Fragrance remains for some time in textile substrate. After five wash or ten wash effect of fragrance gets decreased.

Future Scope of Fragrance Finishing of Textiles
India is only contributing about 5% of the world’s total textile production. Therefore scope lies in manufacturing, application of scientific principles, engineering practices to the wide-ranging aspects of textile processes, products and machinery, including synthetic fibers, interactions of fibers and fabrics with nature and with other mechanisms (such as conditions of use and storage), safety and health, pollution control and energy management etc.

The world market place is continuously changing and so is the demand of people changing. Value addition on textile substrate is playing very important role in manufacturing of fabric. Hence Textile fabric finished with special Aroma will be the new idea to market textile goods.

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Mazharul Islam Kiron

Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. He is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.