Changes in the Chemical Composition of Wool During Dyeing and Finishing and Their Effects on Fabric Properties

Abstract

The chemical composition of a wool fabric is determined after each of a variety of dyeing and finishing processes. The main concern is to observe the effect of dye-fiber interactions and dyeing recipe differences. Dyeing liquor pH and decatizing have a large influence on chemical composition. Reactive dyes react at histidine and cysteine sites, and affect the behavior of cystine during dyeing and both cysteine and cystine during decatizing. Low stress fabric mechanical properties are related to cysteine levels. It is clear that cysteine plays a role in fabric property changes during processing, possibly due to its importance in the thiol-disulphide interchange reaction, which is thought to be important in stress relaxation processes.