Cold Pad-Batch dyeing method for cotton fabric dyeing with reactive dyes using ultrasonic energy

Reactive dyes are vastly used in dyeing and printing of cotton fibre. These dyes have a distinctive reactive nature due to active groups which form covalent bonds with -OH groups of cotton through substitution and/or addition mechanism. Among many methods used for dyeing cotton with reactive dyes, the Cold Pad Batch (CPB) method is relatively more environment friendly due to high dye fixation and non requirement of thermal energy. The dyed fabric production rate is low due to requirement of at least twelve hours batching time for dye fixation. The proposed CPB method for dyeing cotton involves ultrasonic energy resulting into a one third decrease in batching time. The dyeing of cotton fibre was carried out with CI reactive red 195 and CI reactive black 5 by conventional and ultrasonic (US) method. The study showed that the use of ultrasonic energy not only shortens the batching time but the alkalis concentrations can considerably be reduced. In this case, the colour strength (K/S) and dye fixation (%F) also enhances without any adverse effect on colour fastness of the dyed fabric. The appearance of dyed fibre surface using scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed relative straightening of fibre convolutions and significant swelling of the fibre upon ultrasonic application. The total colour difference values ΔE (CMC) for the proposed method, were found within close proximity to the conventionally dyed sample.     

超声电铸提高金属微流控芯片模具的均匀性

利用微电铸技术制作的微流控芯片模具往往存在沉积厚度不均匀的缺陷,这种缺陷会影响模具的尺寸精度及使用性能,并增加模具的制作成本。为了制得厚度均匀的微流控芯片模具,研究了超声电铸对模具均匀性的影响。首先,采用有限元软件COMSOL Multiphysics建立微流控芯片模具的微电铸模型,分析电铸2 h后的模具的厚度分布。并根据该仿真结果,设计掩模版。然后,在自主搭建的超声电铸装置中进行一系列电铸实验,来研究超声搅拌对模具均匀性的影响。实验结果表明:电铸过程中添加超声搅拌可以改善微流控芯片模具的均匀性。超声功率为200 W时,超声频率改善模具均匀性的程度为200 kHz＞80 kHz＞120 kHz。超声频率为200 kHz时,超声功率改善模具均匀性的程度为500 W＞200 W＞100 W。当超声的频率和功率分别为200 kHz和500 W时,与无超声电铸相比,模具的均匀性提高约30%。     

超声电铸提高金属微流控芯片模具的均匀性

利用微电铸技术制作的微流控芯片模具往往存在沉积厚度不均匀的缺陷,这种缺陷会影响模具的尺寸精度及使用性能,并增加模具的制作成本。为了制得厚度均匀的微流控芯片模具,研究了超声电铸对模具均匀性的影响。首先,采用有限元软件COMSOL Multiphysics建立微流控芯片模具的微电铸模型,分析电铸2 h后的模具的厚度分布。并根据该仿真结果,设计掩模版。然后,在自主搭建的超声电铸装置中进行一系列电铸实验,来研究超声搅拌对模具均匀性的影响。实验结果表明：电铸过程中添加超声搅拌可以改善微流控芯片模具的均匀性。超声功率为200 W时,超声频率改善模具均匀性的程度为200 kHz＞80 kHz＞120 kHz。超声频率为200 kHz时,超声功率改善模具均匀性的程度为500 W＞200 W＞100 W。当超声的频率和功率分别为200 kHz和500 W时,与无超声电铸相比,模具的均匀性提高约30%。     

Considering agitation in ultrasonic electroplating through observation of cavitation

Ultrasonic electroplating produces various effects, including refinement of the plating film structure, by generating localized agitation through cavitation bubbles. However, details of the agitation mechanism have not been clarified because ultrasonic cavitation is very small in scale and occurs rapidly, and its reproducibility is low. Therefore, using laser-induced cavitation, which can generate cavitation similar to ultrasonic waves with high reproducibility, the author attempted to elucidate the conditions and frequency of cavitation generation that affect the agitation phenomenon in ultrasonic electroplating. By controlling the laser irradiation position, three different cavitation conditions were established, and the microstructures of the plated films produced were compared. Microstructural refinement was the most advanced under the condition of microjet generation. The frequency of cavitation generation at any position in the ultrasonic electroplating was estimated to be < 1 Hz.     

Plasma treatment of polyester fabric to impart the water repellency property

Polyester fabric is treated with DCDMS solution by two methods: dipping the fabric directly in DCDMS solution for different intervals and dipping the fabric in DCDMS solution after its exposure into RF plasma chamber for different durations at optimized exposure power conditions. The physical properties of polyester fabric treated with DCDMS in the presence or absence of air plasma have been compared with control fabric. Different characterization techniques like scanning electron microscope, attenuated total reflectance-IR and Dataflash 100 colour measurement spectrophotometer are used to assess the surface morphology, composition and change in colour parameters. Water repellency property of both untreated and modified polyester fabric is studied using AATCC test method 39 (1971). The effectiveness of the water repellency property of modified polyester fabric is checked by repeated washing up to ten cycles. This article was presented at the Second International Conference on the Frontiers of Plasma Physics and Technology, 21–25 February 2005, Goa, India.     

Electroless copper plating on 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane modified PET fabric challenged by ultrasonic washing

Electroless deposition of Cu on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabric modified with 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane was investigated. Morphology, composition, structure, thermal decomposing behavior of copper coating PET fabric after ultrasonic washing in water for 1 h were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectrometer, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TG), respectively. Copper plating on modified fabric has good adherence stability and high electric conductivity before and after ultrasonic washing, while copper coating fabric without modification is easily destroyed during the washing process, which leads to the textile changing from conductor to dielectric. As the copper weight on the treated fabric is 28 g/m², the shielding effectiveness (SE) is more than 54 dB at frequency ranging from 0.01 MHz to 18 GHz.     

Effects of ultrasonic energy on the wash fastness of reactive dyes

The field of ultrasonic is still making strides towards perfection, but already many applications of ultrasonic energy have been found in science and technology. There is also a field called sonochemistry where ultrasonic energy is used to create some chemical and mechanical effects on matter immersed or solved in liquids. It was presumed that ultrasonic textile washing could be a competitive alternative to conventional textile washing techniques; and as such the following experiments were conducted. In this study, the effects of ultrasonic energy on the wash fastness of reactive dyes, which have three different reactive groups, were investigated. After dyeing with the conventional method, the samples were applied with three types of washing processes simultaneously (conventional, ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic bath) and comparisons were made. Three different fixing agents were used in the washing processes. Colourfastness, staining fastness, magnitude of total colour difference (DeltaE) and lightness difference of the colour (DeltaL) values of dyed samples were measured.     

Effects of ultrasonic agitation on adhesion strength of micro electroforming Ni layer on Cu substrate

Micro electroforming is an important technology, which is widely used for fabricating micro metal devices in MEMS. The micro metal devices have the problem of poor adhesion strength, which has dramatically influenced the dimensional accuracy of the devices and seriously limited the development of the micro electroforming technology. In order to improve the adhesion strength, ultrasonic agitation method is applied during the micro electroforming process in this paper. To explore the effect of the ultrasonic agitation, micro electroforming experiments were carried out under ultrasonic and ultrasonic-free conditions. The effects of the ultrasonic agitation on the micro electroforming process were investigated by polarization and alternating current (a.c.) impedance methods. The real surface area of the electroforming layer was measured by cyclic voltammetry method. The compressive stress and the crystallite size of the electroforming layer were measured by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) method. The adhesion strength of the electroforming layer was measured by scratch test. The experimental results show that the imposition of the ultrasonic agitation decreases the polarization overpotential and increases the charge transfer process at the electrode–electrolyte interface during the electroforming process. The ultrasonic agitation increases the crystallite size and the real surface area, and reduces the compressive stress. Then the adhesion strength is improved about 47% by the ultrasonic agitation in average. In addition, mechanisms of the ultrasonic agitation improving the adhesion strength are originally explored in this paper. The mechanisms are that the ultrasonic agitation increases the crystallite size, which reduces the compressive stress. The lower the compressive stress is, the larger the adhesion strength is. Furthermore, the ultrasonic agitation increases the real surface area, enhances the mechanical interlocking strength and consequently increases the adhesion strength. This work contributes to fabricating the electroforming layer with large adhesion strength.     

Ecofriendly laccase–hydrogen peroxide/ultrasound-assisted bleaching of linen fabrics and its influence on dyeing efficiency

This study evaluates the bleaching efficiency of enzymatically scoured linen fabrics using a combined laccase–hydrogen peroxide bleaching process with and without ultrasonic energy, with the goal of obtaining fabrics with high whiteness levels, well preserved tensile strength and higher dye uptake. The effect of the laccase enzyme and the combined laccase–hydrogen peroxide bleaching process with and without ultrasound has been investigated with regard to whiteness value, tensile strength, dyeing efficiency and dyeing kinetics using both reactive and cationic dyes. The bleached linen fabrics were characterized using X-ray diffraction and by measuring tensile strength and lightness. The dyeing efficiency and kinetics were characterized by measuring dye uptake and colour fastness. The results indicated that ultrasound was an effective technique in the combined laccase–hydrogen peroxide bleaching process of linen fabrics. The whiteness values expressed as lightness of linen fabrics is enhanced by using ultrasonic energy. The measured colour strength values were found to be slightly better for combined laccase–hydrogen peroxide/ultrasound-assisted bleached fabrics than for combined laccase–hydrogen peroxide for both reactive and cationic dyes. The fastness properties of the fabrics dyed with reactive dye were better than those obtained when using cationic dye. The time/dye uptake isotherms were also enhanced when using combined laccase–hydrogen peroxide/ultrasound-assisted bleached fabric, which confirms the efficiency of ultrasound in the combined oxidative bleaching process. The dyeing rate constant, half-time of dyeing and dyeing efficiency have been calculated and discussed.     

Ultrasonic system for continuous washing of textiles in liquid layers

The use of ultrasonic energy for washing of textiles has been tried several times without achieving practical development. In fact, the softness of the fibres makes the cavitation to produce small erosion effect and the reticulate structure of the fabric favours the formation of air bubble layers which obstruct wave penetration. In addition, a high proportion of water with respect to the wash load and a certain water degassing is required to assure efficiency and homogeneity in the wash performance. Such requirements have hindered the commercial development of the ultrasonic washing machines for domestic purposes. For specific industrial applications, a great part of these limitations may be overcome. This article deals with a new process in which the fabric is exposed to the ultrasonic field in a flat format. Such process has been implemented at laboratory and at semi-industrial stage by using specially designed power ultrasonic transducers with rectangular plate radiators. The cleaning effect is produced by the intense cavitation field generated by the plate radiator within a thin layer of liquid where the fabric is introduced. The homogeneity of such effect is achieved by the successive exposure of all the fabric areas to the intense acoustic field. In this paper the structure and performance of the developed system are shown.     

In situ sonosynthesis of nano TiO2 on cotton fabric

Here, titanium dioxide nanoparticles (NPs) were sonosynthesized and loaded simultaneously onto the cotton fabric. Titanium tetra isopropoxide (TTIP) was used as precursor and ultrasonic irradiation was utilized as a tool for synthesis of TiO₂ in low temperature with anatase structure and loading nanoparticles onto the cotton fabric. TiO₂ loaded cotton fabric was characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, EDS, and XRF. Moreover, several properties of the treated cotton fabrics such as self-cleaning, UV protection, washing durability, and tensile strength were studied. The effect of variables, including TTIP concentration and sonication time, was investigated based on central composite design (CCD) and response surface methodology (RSM). The results confirmed formation of anatase TiO₂ nanoparticles with 3–6 nm crystalline size loaded onto the cotton fabric at low temperature (75 °C) that led to good self-cleaning and UV-protection properties. The excellent UV-protection rating of the treated fabric maintained even after 25 home launderings indicating an excellent washing durability. Interestingly, sonochemical method had no negative influence on the cotton fabric structure. The statistical analysis indicated significant effect of both TTIP concentration and sonication time on the content of the loaded TiO₂ on the fiber and self-cleaning properties of the fabric.     

Effect of dichlorodimethylsilane on plasma-treated cotton fabric

Cotton fabric was treated with dichlorodimethylsilane (DCDMS) solution by two methods. In the first method, the fabrics were directly dipped into DCDMS solution for different time intervals and in the second method, the fabric was first subjected to radiofrequency (RF) plasma treatment for different durations and optimized exposure power condition and then immersed in DCDMS solution. The physical properties of cotton fabrics, treated with DCDMS in the presence/absence of air plasma have been compared with those of the control fabrics. Changes in the surface morphology structure and composition were observed through scanning electron microscopy and attenuated total reflectance-IR. The change in colour parameters of the fabric due to the treatment was assessed by Dataflash 100 colour measurement spectrophotometer with colourtools QC 1.3 colour quality software. The water repellent property of untreated and modified fabrics was studied using AATCC test method 39 (1971). The effectiveness of the water repellent property was checked by washing the treated fabrics up to ten cycles. Article presented at the International Conference on the Frontiers of Plasma Physics and Technology, 9–14 December 2002, Bangalore, India.     

Noise absorption by woven fabrics

The paper describes an investigation of the relationship between the noise absorption coefficients of a cover made of woven fabric and its intrinsic parameters. The parameters considered were: fibre content, yarn count, cover factor, the air gap behind the fabric, the frequency of the impinging sound wave, and the influence of washing on the sound absorption capacity of the woven fabric. The results show a potential of obtaining NRC ranging between 0·09 and 0·22, which may be useful when coating rigid surfaces. The absorption coefficient is much higher at higher frequencies, say, 4000 Hz.     

Influence of argon/oxygen atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge treatment on desizing and scouring of poly (vinyl alcohol) on cotton fabrics

The effect of argon/oxygen atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) treatment on desizing and scouring of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) on cotton fabric was studied with respect to the treatment duration of 1, 2, 4 and 6 min. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis indicated that oxygen concentration increased for the plasma treated PVA film. Solubility measurement revealed that plasma treatment increased PVA solubility in hot washing but less effective in cold washing. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the fiber surfaces were as clean as unsized fibers after 6 min treatment followed by hot washing. Wickability analysis indicated that the capillary heights of plasma treated fabrics increased significantly as the plasma treatment duration increased. The results of the yarn tensile strength test showed that the plasma treatment did not have a negative effect on fabric tensile strength.     

Enhancing the adhesion strength of micro electroforming layer by ultrasonic agitation method and the application

Micro electroforming is widely used for fabricating micro metal devices in Micro Electro Mechanism System (MEMS). However, there is the problem of poor adhesion strength between micro electroforming layer and substrate. This dramatically influences the dimensional accuracy of the device. To solve this problem, ultrasonic agitation method is applied during the micro electroforming process. To explore the effect of the ultrasonic agitation on the adhesion strength, micro electroforming experiments were carried out under different ultrasonic power (0 W, 100 W, 150 W, 200 W, 250 W) and different ultrasonic frequencies (0 kHz, 40 kHz, 80 kHz, 120 kHz, 200 kHz). The effects of the ultrasonic power and the ultrasonic frequency on the micro electroforming process were investigated by polarization method and alternating current (a.c.) impedance method. The adhesion strength between the electroforming layer and the substrate was measured by scratch test. The compressive stress of the electroforming layer was measured by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) method. The crystallite size of the electroforming layer was measured by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) method. The internal contact surface area of the electroforming layer was measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV) method. The experimental results indicate that the ultrasonic agitation can decrease the polarization overpotential and increase the charge transfer process. Generally, the internal contact surface area is increased and the compressive stress is reduced. And then the adhesion strength is enhanced. Due to the different depolarization effects of the ultrasonic power and the ultrasonic frequency, the effects on strengthening the adhesion strength are different. When the ultrasonic agitation is 200 W and 40 kHz, the effect on strengthening the adhesion strength is the best. In order to prove the effect which the ultrasonic agitation can improve the adhesion strength of the micro devices, micro pillar arrays were fabricated under ultrasonic agitation (200 W, 40 kHz). The experimental results show that the residual rate of the micro pillar arrays is increased about 17% by ultrasonic agitation method. This work contributes to fabricating the electroforming layer with large adhesion strength.     

Single-mode fibre optic Bragg grating sensing on the base of birefringence in surface-mounting and embedding applications

Birefringence effects in the two typical installation techniques of fibre Bragg grating(FBG) sensor are investigated: surface-mounting and embedding configurations. When the FBG is bonded on a host material, the sensitivity loss in ultrasonic measurement caused by glue-induced low-birefringence is first reported. Next, the transverse stress-induced high birefringence when the FBG is embedded into a fabric composite laminate is measured as 3.6×10⁻⁴. Such induced-birefringence effects are experimentally analysed in mechanical applications. Simple and effective solutions with respect to the respective installation configurations for removing the birefringence effect are proposed and the obtained zero-birefringence cases are compared with the birefringent cases.     

Ultrasound-assisted soil washing processes using organic solvents for the remediation of PCBs-contaminated soils

Ultrasonic soil washing processes using organic solvents were investigated for the development of novel remediation technologies for persistent organic pollutants (POPs)- contaminated soils. Aluminum foil erosion was first tested to understand sonophysical activity in water, methanol (polar) and n-hexane (nonpolar) in a 28 kHz double-bath-type sonoreactor. Significant sonophysical damage on the aluminum foil was observed at the antinodes for all solvents, and the order of degree of sonophysical damage was as follows: water > methanol > n-hexane. Subsequently, conventional (mechanical mixing only) and ultrasonic soil washing (mechanical mixing and ultrasound) techniques were compared for the removal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from soil. Two types of contaminated soils, fresh (Soil A, C₀ = 2.5 mg/kg) and weathered (Soil B, C₀ = 0.5 mg/kg), were used and the applied soil-to-liquid (S:L) ratio was 1:5 and 1:10 for methanol and n-hexane, respectively. The polar solvent significantly increased washing efficiencies compared to the nonpolar solvent, despite the nonpolar nature of the PCBs. Washing efficiency was significantly enhanced in ultrasonic soil washing compared to conventional washing, owing to macro- and micro-scale sonophysical actions. The highest washing efficiencies of 90% for Soil A and 70% for Soil B were observed in the ultrasonic washing processes using methanol. Additionally, a single operation of the ultrasonic washing process was superior to two sequential processes with conventional mixing in terms of washing efficiency, consumption of washing agents, treatment of washing leachate, and operation time. Finally, the removal of PCBs in an organic solvent (methanol) was investigated in photolytic and sonolytic processes for the post-treatment of soil washing leachate. A photolysis efficiency of 80% was obtained within 60 min of UV exposure for intensities of 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 W/cm². The primary mechanism of PCBs degradation is photolytic dechlorination. In contrast, no degradation was detected in the sonolytic process, as the excess organic solvent acted as a strong radical scavenger.     

Ultrasonic washing of textiles

We present the results of experimental investigation of ultrasonic washing of textiles. The results demonstrate that cavitation bubbles oscillating in acoustic fields are capable of removing soils from textiles. Since the washing performance is mitigated in a large washing bath when using an ultrasonic transducer, we propose a novel washing scheme by combining the ultrasonic vibration with a conventional washing method utilizing kinetic energy of textiles. It is shown that the hybrid washing scheme achieves a markedly enhanced performance up to 15% in comparison with the conventional washing machine. This work can contribute to developing a novel laundry machine with reduced washing time and waste water.     

Estimation of the stability of skeletal muscle myoglobin of chilled pork treated with brine activated by low-frequency high-intensity ultrasound

We studied the effect of ultrasonic activation of brine (3%) during salting on the degree of stability of colour parameters of pork with normal (NOR) and abnormal course of autolysis in the CIE Lab colour space. The mechanism of stabilisation of the colour of meat is attributed to donor–acceptor bonds of metmyoglobin (MetMb). The accumulation of excessive number of free electrons in the medium are capable of activating MetMb. This reduces the activity of meat, when the native participants of the metmyoglobin reductase system and their own antioxidant systems of meat are depleted.Based on the additive calculation of deviations (increase / decrease) by the coordinates L*, a*, b* in the CIE Lab system, and the total colour difference (ΔE) in control and experimental samples, recommendations were developed. To optimize the colour characteristics of all types of meat, both on the surface and in the thickness of the meat, the preliminary activation of a 3% brine in a low-frequency submersible ultrasonic unit is recommended. Moreover, preliminary cavitation activation of a 3% is more preferable to stabilise the colour of PSE – meat (pale, soft, exudative (watery),) brine in a flow-through installation.     

Numerical simulation of acoustic field under mechanical stirring

The present study analyzes the effect of stirring on ultrasonic degradation experiments through acoustic field distribution, which provides a guidance for further improvement of the degradation rate of organic solutions. It is known that in order to eliminate the standing wave field formed by ultrasonic radiation in the water tank, the liquid in the water tank needs to be stirred and the corresponding distribution of acoustic field is simulated by using the finite element method(FEM).The standing wave leads to an uneven distribution of the acoustic field when it is not stirred, and disappears after being stirred, which increases the cavitation area in the ultrasonic cleaning tank. Then, the degradation experiment with agitation is carried out. The experimental results show that the degradation rate of the solution is higher than that when there is no agitation, which confirms the importance of the acoustic field distribution to ultrasonic degradation. In addition, it is clear that with the increase of the stirring speed, the degradation rate increases first and reaches a maximum at 600 rpm before decreasing. Finally, the distribution of flow field is simulated and analyzed.