Continuous Dyeing Faults

Creasing
This is probably the most common fault to occur in continuous
dyeing. Sometimes these are retained visible folds formed during
preparation or the dyeing process itself, but more often they are
temporary folds that have appeared and vanished again in a
preparatory process, their presence only being revealed later by
differential dye uptake.

The source of such problems may be difficult to identify with

certainty. Excessive, insufficient or variable tension in running
fabrics can be important causes of crease formation.

Tight selvedges, differential shrinkage, the development of

bowed or skewed weft , incorrectly bowed expanders and
worn or badly rotating rollers can all produce rippled or irregular
patterns of creasing.

The build-up of lint, loose threads or other insoluble debris as

hard deposits on roller surfaces is another potential source of
variability in fabrics running over them.

Shade Matching Faults

Shade matching in continuous dyeing is a challenge quite different

in scale from that of automated batchwise dyeing, where a mismatched dyelot can often be given a minor correction without
removing the dyed batch from the dyeing vessel.

If a continuous dyeing arrives at the delivery end of the range

slightly off-shade, some form of reprocessing is usually inevitable.
Even if the dyeing range is equipped with correctly positioned online colorimetric control , substantial amounts of off-shade
material are produced whilst a colour correction step is being
implemented.

Slightly off-shade but otherwise commercially acceptable fabric

can often be disposed of by negotiation with the original customer
or sale elsewhere as seconds quality.

More serious divergencies from the target shade are usually

corrected in batchwise open-width equipment rather than
attempting to apply a correction in a second run on the continuous
range. However, it may be technically and commercially preferable

Lab-to-Bulk Reproducibility

Level bulk-scale dyeings that unexpectedly fail to match the

relevant laboratory dyeing for shade are often attributable to
human error in formulating the dyebath, either in bulk or in the
lab. Such errors can be cross-checked by repeating the lab dyeing
and testing the bulk-scale liquor in a lab-scale dyeing.

If the same shade has shown satisfactory lab-to-bulk

reproducibility in a previous dyelot, the off-shade result may have
a different cause, such as a change in substrate dyeability, liquor
ratio, water supply, non-standard preparation, or a failure in the
bulk-scale control of dyebath pH, temperature or chemical
additions.

Modern dyeing control systems are so reliable that substrate

variability is far more likely to be involved.

Consistency of substrate dyeability can be readily monitored in a

vertical organisation with a limited number of fabric suppliers to
the dyehouse, but the wide variety of fabric qualities dealt with in
a typical commission dyehouse demands constant vigilance to
keep the frequency of off- shade faults down to an acceptable
level.

Two Sidedness

Two Sidedness
This occurs when one face of the fabric is subjected to a higher
temperature than the other during the pre-drying stage.

Dye migration takes place preferentially towards the hotter

surface to give a slightly deeper shade than on the cooler one.

If the component water-soluble dyes in a trichromatic combination

differ in substantivity, however, the least substantive will tend to
migrate more readily than the most substantive component and
the two sides of the dyed fabric will show differences in hue as well
as depth.

Listing
Listing
Listing is the term used to describe weftway differences in hue or
depth across the fabric width, normally a gradual shading from one
selvedge to the other, or a difference between the centre of the fabric
and both selvedges. Possible causes of listing include weftway
variation in:
1. nip loading in a preparation treatment
2. residual size content after preparation
3. heat setting before dyeing
4. moisture regain after padding
5. nip loading at the padding stage
6. temperature or moisture content during drying
7. temperature during thermofixation.

Ending
Ending
Ending is the term used to describe warpway variations in hue or
depth along the fabric length of a dyelot. Possible causes of ending
include random variations of:
1. desizing, scouring or bleaching conditions
2. heat setting before dyeing
3. moisture regain before padding
4. nip loading at the padding stage
5. migration during pre-drying after padding
6.

temperature in drying, thermofixation or steaming

treatment
7. dwell time during fixation or aftertreatment.

Tailing
Tailing
This term refers to the depletion of dye concentration in the pad
liquor that takes place gradually during continuous running. The
higher the dye substantivity and the lower the applied depth, the
more pronounced is the depletion or tailing effect.

If the component dyes in a trichromatic combination differ

significantly in substantivity, tailing may be more obvious
because it manifests itself as a gradual change in hue. This
fault can be minimised by rapid recirculation of the pad liquor
from the trough back into the stock feed tank.

However, it is also essential to consider carefully the

relationship between the laboratory pad, stock tank and pad
liquor formulations.

A lab-scale padding gives a similar shade to that of the first

few metres dyed in bulk, whereas the equilibrium shade
reached after several minutes of bulk-scale running may be
significantly paler or off-shade relative to the lab result.
Quantification of these differences can be used to calculate
allowance factors, so that the stock feed and lab-scale
formulations can be adjusted to ensure that the pad liquor at

Chemical Pad Bleeding

Chemical Pad Bleeding
Another substantivity-dependent fault of a similar nature can arise in
the pad- dry-thermofix-reducing pad-steam process for vat or sulphur
dyes and the pad- dry-thermofix-alkaline pad-steam application of
reactive dyes to polyester/cotton blends.

Although the electrolyte concentration of these chemical pad

liquors is invariably high, there may be significant desorption of
unfixed dyes from the dried goods during immersion.

Lab-scale dip tests may give qualitative confirmation, but as with

tailing problems they cannot reproduce the equilibrium state
reached on prolonged running.

Nevertheless, quantitative measurements of colour differences do

enable allowance factors to be determined for defining the
relationship between dye padding formulation, chemical pad
composition and target shade on the finished goods.

Staining Faults

Staining Faults
These are of almost infinite variety and tend to occur randomly, but
careful analysis of the processing history of the fabric batch in
question often pinpoints the source of the problem .

The fault may appear in a repeat pattern along the fabric length
and it is important to record the exact circumference of all rollers
and other cylindrical components that come into contact with the
running fabric.

Staining faults may be roughly categorised as random staining,

resist marks, spotting and foam marks.

Random Staining
Random Staining
This
may
be
variously described as mealiness, swealing,
patchiness or blotchiness. When these effects are encountered on
continuously dyed fabric the source of the fault is frequently
migration during pre-drying after padding. The migration of watersoluble dyes at this stage is inversely related to substantivity and can
be minimised by careful incorporation of electrolytes and migration
inhibitors . The degree of reactivity of reactive dyes is also
significant, because highly reactive dyes become partly fixed during
pre-drying and this effect competes with migration. Thus highreactivity dyes with high substantivity are the least prone to
migration problems .
The migration of an individual disperse dye can be restricted by other
dyes present in combination that may have a larger particle size or a
tendency to flocculate. However, the higher the concentration of
migration inhibitor present, the less apparent are these differences in
the migration behaviour of individual dyes . The reduced liquor
retention attainable by vacuum impregnation with disperse dyes
greatly suppresses the extent of dye migration at the subsequent predrying stage . In the absence of a migration inhibitor, vacuum
impregnation is more effective than infrared treatment as a means of

Resist Marks
Resist Marks
Most of these faults arise from inadequate preparation but it can be
quite difficult to deduce precisely where or how the fault originated.
Occasionally, chemical analysis may confirm that the poor dye uptake
was caused by the presence of residual cotton wax, size polymer, oil
or other contaminant before dyeing but far more often the dyeing and
washing-off processes extract the offending impurities and such tests
are then negative.
Localised acidic or alkaline resists are normally caused by soluble
contaminants that are soon extracted or neutralised at the dyeing
stage.

Light Spots
Light Spots
Repeated white or pale-coloured spots may be attributable to
localised deposits on roller surfaces that interfere with the application
of uniform pressure to the fabric containing absorbed dye liquor.
Random light spots can arise as a result of water droplets falling onto
the moving fabric after condensation has occurred on roof surfaces
within or above hot and wet processing equipment.
These wet spots dilute the unfixed dyes and chemicals locally, thus
inhibiting full fixation in the spotted region.

Dark Spots
Dark Spots
These spots or specks are usually local concentrations of
deposited dye attributable to unsatisfactory dissolution or dispersion
of the dyes and inadequate sieving before feeding to the pad trough.
Incompatibility between dyes and auxiliaries, or between different
classes of dyes when dyeing blends, pH fluctuations, variations in the
water supply and desorption of impurities from the fabric have all
occasionally been found to contribute to dye spotting problems.
Airborne dye particles released when weighing, dissolving or
dispersing must not be allowed to contaminate fabric or machinery in
the vicinity; this is taken care of in modern dispensary facilities.
Low-energy disperse dyes may volatilise and contaminate the
interior surfaces of thermofixation equipment, so thorough cleaning
between dyelots can be critical.

Foam Marks
Foam Marks
These faults often arise when a scum or foam on the surface of a dye
liquor contains undissolved dye particles that can become airborne or
collapse as a random deposit on the fabric surface.
The presence of excess migration inhibitor, wetting agent or other
surfactant, accompanied by turbulence of the dye liquor when
operating at high speeds, may contribute to such problems.
Similar faults can arise during the reoxidation of vat or sulphur dyes
when leuco compounds desorbed from the fabric surface become
reoxidised in particulate form if foam is building up at the liquor
surface.

Typical semi- and fully-continuous dyeing of woven

fabrics Type
Process
Example
Pad-batch
Pigment pad-jig develop
Pad-batch-beam

Pad (coupler) jig develop (diazo)

Semicontinuous
Semicontinuous
Semicontinuous

Pad (leuco ester and oxidant) jig

develop (acid)
Pad-dry-wash

Semicontinuous
Semicontinuous
Continuous

Pad-dry-bake
Pad-dry-thermofix
Pad-dry-steam

Continuous
Continuous
Continuous

Dye pad-dry-alkaline pad-steam

Pigment pad-dry-reducing padsteam

Continuous
Continuous

Reactive on cellulosics
Vat, sulphur on
cellulosics
Disperse/reactive
on
polyester/cellulosic
s
Azoics on cellulosics
Vat leuco ester
on cellulosics
High-reactivity dyes
on cellulosics
Reactive on cellulosics
Disperse on polyester
Reactive, vat,
sulphur on cellulosics
Reactive on cellulosics
Vat, sulphur on
cellulosics