Dyeing with Disperse Dyes

Before the First World War, almost all dyes were applied from solution in an aqueous dyebath to substrates such as cotton, wool, silk and other natural fibres. However, the introduction of a man-made fibre, cellulose acetate, with its inherent hydrophobic nature, created a situation where very few of the available dyes had affinity for the new fibre. Water-soluble anionic dyes had little substantivity for the fibre and the alkaline conditions required for the application of vat dyes brought about a loss in tensile strength and deterioration in fibre appearance due to the rapid hydrolysis of acetyl groups. The development of disperse dyes for dyeing secondary cellulose acetate fibres in the early 1920s was a major technological breakthrough although their major use today is for the coloration of polyesters, the most important group of synthetic fibres (Broadbent, 2001). The first systematic study of dyes that was suitable for application to cellulose acetate by a direct dyeing process was carried out by Green. The presence of hydroxyl and amino groups, a low relative molecular mass and an almost neutral or basic character were found to be advantageous. As a result of these investigations, in 1922, Green and Saunders developed the Ionamine Dyes (British Dystuffs Corporation) for application to acetate fibres (Green & Saunders, 1923; Green, 1924) (Fig. 1). These water-soluble dyes were hydrolyzed in the aqueous dyebath to produce the sparingly soluble free base in a very fine suspension that was then absorbed by the fibre. This discovery, that aqueous dispersions of almost waterinsoluble dyes were highly suitable for the dyeing of secondary acetate, lead to the rapid development of other such dyes for dyeing cellulose acetate.