Application of foams to the processing of fabrics. Interim report, October 1, 1977-March 31, 1979

Technical Report · Sun Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5554166· OSTI ID:5554166

Duke, M. W.

The primary objective of this project is to reduce the energy requirements for finishing fabrics by drastically reducing the water required to wet process the fabrics. Since less water is used, less energy is consumed in the evaporation of water. This is accomplished by replacing much of the water with air, making a foam and using it as the application medium. In the first six months of the project the practicality of foam fabric finishing on a commercial basis had been established. Limited yardage of fabrics equivalent in performance to conventionally wet finished fabrics were processed. In these mill trials, a range of foam fabric finishes including softeners, hand builders, durable press and shrink-resistant types were applied to cotton sheeting, corduroy and polyester/cellulosic blends, etc. In all cases, substantial energy savings were realized. Since the issuance of the first and second interim reports, commercial practice of foam fabric finishing continues to grow with cumulative total estimated as approaching 200,000,000 yards. A number of companies are currently using foam fabric finishing as a commercial production process. Additionally, the pilot range has been used to demonstrate foam fabric finishing to over twenty companies. The range has been used to demonstrate the foam acid dyeing of nylon carpets to several companies in this specialized area of textile processing. Active work still continues with these companies since the foam dyeing of carpets involves only about 1/5 the water used in the normal continuous dyeing of carpets. At the time of writing two carpet companies are actively working to evaluate foam dyeing on a mill scale. (LCL)

• Research Organization: United Merchants Research Center, Langley, SC (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5554166
• Report Number(s): COO-4527-3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320303* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Industrial & Agricultural Processes-- Equipment & Processes
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
DRYING
DYES
ENERGY CONSERVATION
FOAMS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRY
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PRODUCTION
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
TEXTILE INDUSTRY
TEXTILES
WATER