GB1118792A - Improvements in or relating to the treatment of wool - Google Patents

Abstract

Textile materials consisting wholly or partly of wool are shrinkproofed by treating them with an aqueous solution of permonosulphuric acid, an aqueous solution of a permanganate, e.g. potassium permanganate, and an aqueous solution of dichlorisocyanuric acid or trichlorisocyanuric acid or a salt thereof, e.g. sodium dichlorisocyanurate. The materials may be treated in a first stage with aqueous solutions of permonosulphuric acid and potassium permanganate or with a mixture thereof with or without the addition of an anionic wetting agent at a temperature between room temperature and 70 DEG C and a pH of below 11, e.g. 3-10, solutions containing about 0.05% by weight of each of the reagents being used for batch processes and solutions containing 0.4% by weight or more of each of the reagents being used in continuous processes. In continuous processes the permono-sulphuric acid and permanganate may be mixed together in a single bath applied as separate solutions. The materials may then be treated in a second stage with an aqueous solution of sodium dichlorisocyanurate at a pH of 5-7 and a temperature below 50 DEG C. Alternatively the sodium dichloroisocyanurate may be used in a single bath with the aqueous solution of permonosulphuric acid and potassium permanganate at a temperature between room temperature and 50 DEG C and a pH of 3-6. The treated materials may subsequently be treated with an alkaline or weakly acidic aqueous solution of sulphurous acid or a salt thereof, preferably sodium bisulphite, at a concentration not greater than 0.4% by weight in the batch method or as high as 10% by weight for the continuous process at a temperature of from room temperature to 100 DEG C, and washed with water.