GB372129A - Improvements in or relating to the treatment of textile materials - Google Patents

Abstract

In order to raise their safe ironing point, materials made of or containing cellulose esters and ethers are treated with a solution of a weighting metal salt in presence of a substance which represses swelling of the cellulose compounds after which the metal is precipitated as an insoluble compound. The substance repressing swelling may be a substantially neutral salt, e.g. sodium, potassium or calcium chloride, or other halide of an alkali or alkaline-earth metal, preferably having the same anion as the weighting salt. It may be present in the proportion of 10-40 per cent of the other constituents of the treating solution. Suitable weighting salts are chlorides or other compounds of tin, zinc, aluminium, bismuth, tungsten, or antimony. Stannic chloride may be used as a solution of 1-10 per cent strength, particularly 2-6 per cent, at a temperature of 50-95 DEG C., the higher temperatures being suitable with lower concentrations. The treatment in such baths may last from 30 minutes to 3 hours, and may be carried out by suspension of the fabrics in the solution or by means of a winch or jig, or by padding appliances, or by simple immersion of yarn in hank form. After squeezing, centrifuging, or the like, the goods are treated with fixing liquids, e.g. solutions of tri- or disodium phosphate, silicates, or tannic acid. A small proportion of the weighting metal is sufficient to raise the safe ironing point considerably, for instance less than 10 or even less than 1 per cent. The process may be applied to mixed fabrics, containing for instance threads of natural silk or regenerated cellulose in addition to threads of cellulose esters or ethers.