Pre-treatment of grey fabric, then thorough coloration of treated fabric, and finally the finishing process completes the wet processing of textiles. In this finishing stage, we can impart desirable properties to the substrate. Chemical finishing in textiles plays an important role to yield asthetic as well as functional properties to the goods. This article explains the Types of Chemical Finishes in the textile industry.
Chemical finishing in textiles involves the addition of chemicals to the textile to achieve the desired result. Typically, the appearance of fabric remains unchanged after chemical finishing. But Mechanical or Dry finish uses mainly physical means to change fabric properties and usually alters the fabric’s appearance as well.
Mechanical finishing includes calendering, emersing, compressive shrinkage, raising, brushing, shearing, etc. Often, mechanical and chemical finishing overlap. Some mechanical finishes need chemical application. So, chemical finish plays an important role in the textile finishing field. In this article, we will briefly discuss chemical finishing.
General requirements of chemical Finishes in Textile
There are some basic requirements of chemical finishing in textiles. They are divided into two effects: Primary effect and secondary effect. Here they are:
Primary effects of finishing
- High effectiveness at lower expenditure
- Adapt according to customer choice and ease of use
Desired secondary effects of finishing
- The finish must be applicable to all types of fibers and substrate form like yarn, woven or knitted structure, garment or apparel or non-woven goods
- Garments must posses high performance property when subjected to washing or dry cleaning
- Never compromise with the quality like hand feel, abrasion resistance, tear, or tensile strength, etc
- Undyed grey fabrics should not face any yellowing
- No impairment in colorfastness is required
- Finishes must not interact with the color of the textile goods
- Handling should be safe and easy
- A non-flammable finish is required
- Finishes must be accomplished following the standard method and equipment at a lower cost
- Upon storage, finishes must exhibit high stability, whatever the condition (temperature, stress, etc.) is.
- Optimum application of finishes, either on the surface or inside the fabric, is a must
- The finish must be synergistic or compatible with the other finishes
- Easy cover-up of faults if occurred such as stain removal
- No toxicity
- Environment-friendly
- Absence of volatile component
Importance of chemical finishes in textiles
- Chemical finishing in textiles plays an important rol,e but the recent trend to “High Tech” product adds a great popularity to it.
- With the increase of high performance textiles, the popularity of chemical finishing has also increased.
- The chemicals and auxiliaries that are utilized in a year is about one-tenth of the world’s fiber production
- About 6 million tons of chemicals are consumed for 60 million tons of fiber
- The consumption of chemicals in finishing covers 40% of total textile auxiliaries.
- Within the textile finishing group, the product breakdown, based on TEGEWA, is given as a survey in the following table.
- In terms of value, the repellent group is the leader with the highest ratio of cost per amount.
- This reflects the relatively high cost of the fluorochemical subgroup of repellents.
Importance of the finishing product groups in order
| Value importance | Finishing product group | Value% | Amount% | Euro/kg |
| 1 | Soft handle products based on: silicones, including elastomeric, cationics, non-ionics, without silicones anionics | 19.9 | 22.1 | 2.10 |
| 2 | Repellents based on: Fluorocarbons, paraffins, silicones | 15.2 | 4.1 | 8.50 |
| 3 | Flame retardants | 13.9 | 13.9 | 2.30 |
| 4 | Products for coating, laminating, fiber and thread bonding | 13.8 | 18.4 | 1.70 |
| 5 | Products for easy care and permanent press finishes | 7.9 | 13.5 | 1.30 |
| 6 | Hand builders | 7.0 | 10.0 | 1.60 |
| 7 | Antimicrobial products, including protection from germs | 1.9 | 0.3 | 14.20 |
| 8 | Antistatic agents including carpet finishing | 1.8 | 2.3 | 1.80 |
| 9 | Non-slip agents | 1.2 | 1.4 | 2.00 |
| 10 | Products for soil-release, remainder, including brighteners, products for sewing thread preparation, anti-felting of wool, carpet back-coating, hydrophilation, delustering and brightening, foaming of finishes | 0.04 | 0.01 | 6.70 |
Different Chemical Finishes in the Textile Industry
- Mercerizing
- Parchmentizing
- Flame Retardant finish
- Water Repellency finish
- water-repellent-fabric
- Silicon treatment for the hydrophobic effect
- Fluoro chemicals for soil release & soil resistance
- Softening
- Certain phosphorus and nitrogen compounds for flame retardant
- Hydrophilation
- Foaming finish
- Finish with non-slip agents
- Wrinkle-free or crease-resistant finish
- Anti-microbial finish
- Anti-static finish
- Soil-Release Finish
- Soil Repellency
- Oil-Repellent Finishing
- Ultraviolet Protection Finish
- Antimicrobial / Antifungal Finishes
- Insect-Repellent Finishes
- Mothproofing Finish
- Resin Finishing (Crease Resist, Permanent Press)
- Antistatic Finish
- Stiffening
- Easy-Care Finishing
- Coating and Laminating
- Softening Agents
To Wrap Up!
Chemical finishing, an important field for textile finishing, covers a broad market share. Different Chemical Finishes in the Textile Industry. In our subsequent articles, we will know more about it.
