Today I will present some 'terms and definitions' which are essential for dyeing.
AATCC : American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists.
Alginate : A thickener used in textile printing for the paste containing dye.
Affinity : Attraction between the dye and fibres.
Anhydrous : A substance which contains no water or without water.
Antichlor : A chemical used to neutralize chlorine bleach.
Anti foaming agent : An agent used to protect the dye solution from forming foam.
anti-migrant : An additive used to prevent undesired movement or spread the wet dye on fabric.
Binder : A material like gum or glue nearly colorless, that is used to attach a pigment to fabric.
Carbonizing : Treatment of wool with acid and heat to remove vegetable, burrs, other materials.
cloud point : The temperature at and above which a water soluble component will precipitate from solution.
crocking : Transfer of color from dyed or pigmented fabric onto other white fast fabric by rubbing.
Defibrillation : Process to remove fibrils from the surface of a fabric.
Diluent : Deluent or dilutant is a solid or liquid chemical used to carry or dilute anything.
Electrolyte : A substance that makes an electrically conductive solution when it is dissolved in water.
Etchant : In textile terms, a chemical that is used to break down fibres so that they can be removed for purposes of patterning.
Exhaustion : The transfer of dye from dye bath to fibre.
Fastness : The resistance of a textile material to specific chemical agencies.
Fixation : Build up the “final” bond between the dye and fibre
hydration number : A value indicating how many water molecules are associated with each molecule of some other compound in a crystal of that compound.
Hygroscopic : Having a tendency to absorb water or moisture from air.
Indigo : A natural or synthetic Vat dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria.
leveling agent : An ionic, non-ionic surfactant used to promote level dyeing.
Mercerization : treatment of cotton yarn or fabric with a strong solution of NaOH to increase its strength.
Mordant : A chemical that helps the binding of dye or dyestuff to the fibers for both fiber and dye.
Owf : On weight of fibre, normally expressed in percentage.
Omf : On mass of fibre
Padding : A dyeing method with very low liquor to good ratio, where typically only enough strong dye solution is used to saturate the fabric
Pigment dyeing : Coloring fabric with ground pigments mixed with a binder rather than a true dye.
Soaping or soaping off : A process of washing the dyed fabric with hot water with surfactants or cleaning agents, soap, detergent to remove the fixed dye.
Softener (fabric softener) : A chemical or chemical mixture like lubricant stands for to give fabric a soft hand.
Softener (water softener) : Chemicals used to water to prevent hardness ions from interfering with other solutes.
Stripping : The process to remove uneven dye from fabric before redyeing it.
Stock solution: A solution of known strength, made up with the intent of dilution or mixing before final use. Stocked will be discussed future.
Substantive(ity) : The rate of dye to transfer from solute to solution.
Subtractive : With reference to color, removal of colors from light reflected from a surface.
Surfactant : Surface active agent.
Syntan : Synthetic tanning agent.
Wetting agent: An agent helps to increase the uptake of the dye by the fibre or to penetrate solution by wetting it.
W/w : Abbreviation of weight/weight.
W/v : Abbreviation for weight/volume.
