One-bath one-step low-temperature dyeing of polyester/cotton blended fabric with cationic dyes via β-cyclodextrin modification

With the aim of polyester/cotton fabric one-bath one-step dyeing, polyester fabric low-temperature dyeing with cationic dyes was investigated based on β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) modification. After β-CD/citric acid (CA) modification, the hydrophilicity of the modified polyester fabric was improved obviously, which was demonstrated via moisture regain and contact angle, as well as wicking property. The optimal dyeing temperature and crosslinking agent were selected through comparing the color strength of the dyed polyester fibers. Modified polyester fabric obtained significantly enhanced color strength from 0.12 to 4 with a good leveling property when dyeing at 70℃ using CA as the crosslinking agent. β-CD modified polyester/cotton fabric displayed a K/ S value of 8.61, much higher than the value of 0.71 of the unmodified fabric with cationic dyes, showing a highly improved dyeing ability. The color fastness of β-CD modified polyester/cotton fabrics, including washing fastness, rubbing fastness, perspiration fastness and light fastness, are all over grade 3–4 when the curing temperature of 180℃ is adopted for β-CD modification, demonstrating that polyester/cotton fabric one-bath one-step dyeing can be realized based on β-CD modification.