Textile / Fabric Softener
Textile / Fabric softener (also called fabric conditioner) is used to prevent static cling and make fabric softer. Fabric softeners work by coating the surface of the cloth fibers with a thin layer of chemicals; these chemicals have lubricant properties and are electrically conductive, thus making the fibers feel smoother and preventing buildup of static electricity. Other functions are improvements of iron glide during ironing, increased resistance to stains, and reduction of wrinkling and pilling.
With fast-paced lives and limited time for clothing care, consumers need high performance features from laundry products. However, the reality of the laundering process can produce less than ideal results: washing strips garments of their original finish and degrades fabric, while reducing color brightness, definition and fabric strength. Wrinkling negatively impacts garment shape and appearance.
Silicones have wide applications in the textile industry, from fiber, yarn and fabric production to final product finishing. Their distinctive chemistry imparts a range of characteristics, including improved softness, dimensional stability, fabric physical properties, wrinkle recovery, and stretch and recovery. Silicones can also be used to provide hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity, static control, lubrication, antimicrobial treatments and anti-slip properties. A variety of silicone technologies have applications in the textile industry.
They include:
• Polydimethylsiloxanes
• Amino- / amido-functional silicones
• Silicone elastomers
• Methyl hydrogen silicones
• Silicone polyethers
• Epoxy-functional silicones
• Epoxy polyether silicones
• Hydroxy-functional silicones
As the softeners themselves are often of hydrophobic nature, they are commonly occurring in the form of an emulsion. In the early formulations, soaps were used as emulsifiers. The emulsions are usually opaque, milky fluids. However there are also micro emulsions where the droplets of the hydrophobic phase are substantially smaller. The advantage of micro emulsions is in the increased ability of the smaller particles to penetrate into the fibers.
