Prediction of recipes for cotton cationisation and reactive dyeing to shade match conventionally dyed cotton

Cationisation allows cotton to be dyed with anionic dyestuffs (including anionic pigment dispersions) without the need for salt, and with decreased usage of dye, water, and energy. Appropriate cationisation levels play a part in dyeing properties such as fabric levelness, in fastness properties such as lightfastness, and in the overall cost of the cationisation treatment. The objective of this work is to assess whether it is possible simultaneously to predict a dye recipe and cationisation treatment level for cotton to yield a colourless or nearly colourless dyebath at the completion of the dyeing to match the shade of conventional fibre reactive dyeing of cotton. It has been shown that it is possible to model a cold pad batch cationisation process, relate the colour yield data and cationisation level for individual dyes, and finally predict a dyeing recipe and the required corresponding cationisation treatment to match the shade of conventional fibre reactive dyeing of cotton. The predicted dye recipe and cationisation amount yield colourless or nearly colourless dyebaths at the conclusion of the dyeing process.