COLOR FASTNESS

• Colour fastness of textile materials (dyed or printed) is of

considerable importance to the consumer.

• Fastness depends on various parameters such as

• Nature and depth of shade of the dyestuff used,

• Nature & Type of the fibre,

• Method of dyeing or printing employed

• Conditions prevailing during the process.

• Another important aspect is the agency to which the particular material is
exposed.
• Washing,
• Rubbing (Dry & Wet),
• Light, Dry heat, Dry Press,
• Perspiration, Chlorine, Saliva etc.

• For an Innerwear dress material requires both wash and rubbing fastness.
It need not have light fastness. But of course, perspiration fastness is very
much required.

• For an Outerwear wash, rubbing and light fastness properties are required.

• Now a days for child wear even fastness to saliva is required in expert
market.
GRAY SCALE

• Arrangement of achromatic gray chips in a scale from light to dark.

• Nine pairs of non-glossy neutral grey colored chips, which illustrate

the perceived color differences.

• Gives a corresponding fastness rating of 5, 4-5, 4, 3-4, 2-3, 2, 1-2, 1.

Using a gray scale

• Uses a class 5-4-3-2-1 rating system.

• Class 5 best, class 1 worst.

• Half rating, such as 3-4 also used.

• 5-Excellent, 4-good, 3-fair, 2-poor, 1-very poor.

• Specimens of a given hue are matched against these gray chips.

• They equate differences in lightness with differences in color.

Limitations of gray scale

• Disagreements when bright colors are used.

• Works well with most colors otherwise.

COLOR MATCHING BOOTH

• When visually evaluating or comparing, standardized light source should be used.

• COLOR MATCHING BOOTH frequently used for color checking.

• Contains 4 different standardized lights:

• Daylight
• Incandescent light
• Cool white fluorescent light
• Ultraviolet light

• Each used to view specimens by pushing a switch.

• Daylight used when evaluating colorfastness as color appears closer to way usually
seen.
Colour Fastness to light
• Colour fastness to light test is to determine how much the colour will fade
when exposed to daylight. Test measures the resistance to fading of dyed
textiles.

• Certain end products require a high resistance to fading because of their

exposure to light during use,
• Example: Curtains, upholstery, carpets, awnings and coatings.

• However, many items of apparel also require a degree of light fastness

because they are exposed to light when on display, particularly in a shop
window.

• In day; sun light fall on the fabric surface. So it needs to know how much
protection ability have a fabric to sun light. It is determined by an
experiment called color fastness to light.
COLOR FASTNESS TO LIGHT

• This refers to the ability of the fabric to withstand the sunlight.

• The resistance to the sunlight depends on:

• Intensity of the light
• Inherent properties of the fabric
• Season
• Altitude
• Distance from the equator
Standard Methods of light fastness

• Generally two methods of testing are widely accepted by most of the

customers.
• American Test Method (AATCC 16)
• ISO Test Method (ISO105/BO2)

• Both the methods recommend the use of artificial light source, namely
Xenon Arc Lamp exposure as it is representative of natural day light.

• Test measures the resistance to fading of dyed textile when exposed to

day light.

• The test sample is exposed to light for a certain time which is about 24
hours to 72 hours or by customer/buyer demand.
Principle of Color Fastness to Light

• A specimen of textile is exposed

to artificial light source under
specified conditions together with
dyed blue standards having
known fading characteristics.

• The fastness is evaluated by

comparison of the colour change
of the specimen with that of the
standards under standard viewing
conditions.
• The essence of the test is to expose the sample under test to the light source
together with eight blue wool reference standards.

• The sample and blue standards are partly covered so that some of the
material fades and some is left unfaded.

• A rating is given to the sample which is the number of the reference

standard which shows a similar visual contrast between the exposed and
unexposed portions as the specimen.

• This means that the specimen will be given a grade between one (poor
light fastness) and eight (highly resistant to fading).

• If the result is in between two blue dyeing's it is given as 3-4

• Compare the change with original unexposed sample the changes are
assessed by Blue Scales.
BLUE WOOL REFERENCE STANDARDS
Light Fastness Grades
Colour Fastness (Rubbing)

• Determine the colour fastness of textile materials to rubbing off and

staining other materials in both dry and wet conditions.

• Sample
• Two pieces each of 14x5 cm one in warp direction and other in weft
direction are selected and kept for dry rubbing.
• Similarly, another set of two specimens are selected for wet
rubbing.

• Apparatus
• Crock meter
• Grey scale
• Undyed cloth pieces each 5X5 cm size bleached cotton fabric.
Crock meter
Dry Rubbing

• Take a test specimen and fix it to the rubbing device.

• Fix a piece of the dry undyed fabric over the end of the finger of the

rubbing device and rub it to and fro in a straight line along a track

10 cm long on the test piece 10 times in 10 seconds with a

downward force of 900 g on the finger.

• Repeat the above test for the other specimens.

• Evaluate the degree of staining of the undyed fabric with the help of

grey scales and assign rating.

Wet Rubbing
• Take a test specimen and fix it to the rubbing device.
• Soak a piece of undyed fabric in distilled water and squeeze it by
passing through two rubber rolls so that it contains its own weight of
water.
• Fix the wet undyed fabric on the finger of the rubbing device and rub it
in a straight line along a track of 10 cm long on the dry test specimen
10 times in 10 seconds with a force of 900g on the finger.
• Then dry the undyed fabric at room temperature.
• Repeat the test for the other specimen also.
• Evaluate the degree of staining on undyed fabric using grey scale and
assign ratings.
Selection of fibre and their effects on fastness to rubbing

• Cotton is the most widely used textile fibers in the world accounting
for more than 50% of total consumption. There should be proper
selection of cotton fibre to ensure good rubbing fastness.

• When immature and dead cotton fibres are used, during spinning it
undergoes abrasion with metallic parts and the immature fibres may
breaks into short fibres.

• Further in dyeing the dyes will not be properly fixed to the

immature and dead fibres.

• So, mature cotton fibres can be chosen to enhance the rubbing

fastness.
Selection of yarn and their effects on fastness to rubbing

• The carded yarn have more short fibres, during wet rubbing both
colour and coloured short fibres are transferred to the crocking
cloth.

• For this reason we can choose combed yarn where the short fibre
content is less.

• The open end spinning yarns like rotor yarn have more short fibres
so we can go for ring \compact yarn.
Selection of fabric and their effects on fastness to
rubbing

• It has been found that the fabric made out of mercerised cotton
shows improved fastness to rubbing.
• Due to the change in the fibre structure on mercerising , there is a
30% less extent of removal of fiber particles.
• If a dyed cotton fabric is used as a specimen there will be surface
fibres in between the warp or weft yarns.
• so the true contact area is more, therefore there is a possibility of
more colour transfer from the specimen to the crocking cloth.
• For synthetic fibres the amount of surface fibres is less
comparatively with cotton fabrics. If the surface is rough the
abrasion is more and there is a possibility of poor rubbing fastness.
• So smooth surface gives good rubbing fastness.
Colour Fastness to Perspiration
Sample

• Test specimen of (5x4cm) is selected.

• Two pieces of undyed fabric are required (5x5cm).

• A composite specimen is prepared by placing the test specimen between

5x5 cm of two pieces of undyed fabric (selected as above)so that an area of
5x1 cm of undyed pieces is not in contact with the test specimen and sewn
along this side.

• Prepare two composite specimens like above.

• Apparatus
• Glass plates each measuring about 7.5 X 6.5 cm
• Perspirometer
• Air oven
Reagents

• Acidic perspiration

• Prepared by dissolving 2.65g of sodium chloride and 0.75g of urea

per liter and adjusting the pH of the solution to 5.5 with the

addition of acetic acid.

• Alkaline perspiration

• Prepared by dissolving 3 g of sodium chloride per liter and

adjusting the pH of the solution to 7.2 with the addition of sodium

bicarbonate.
PERSPIROMETER
• Wet one of the composite specimen in the acidic perspiration using 50:1
liquor to material ratio and allow it to remain in the liquor for 30
minutes at room temperature

• Pour off the liquor and place the specimen between two glass plates and
place the assembly along with the specimen in the Perspirometer and
place it in hot air oven for 4 hours at 37 + 2 0 C.

• At the end of this period, remove the specimen, separate the test piece
and the other two pieces, dry them at 600C.

• Treat the second composite specimen using alkaline perspiration and

carryout the test as above.

• Evaluate the change in colour of the test specimen and the degree of
staining of the two undyed fabric with the grey scale.