What is color fastness to rubbing for textile?
Color fastness to rubbing is a process that is used to test the quality of color fastness in the fabric. It is a technique in which color is transferred from one fabric to another with rubbing. The fabrics with poor color fastness will always transfer their color by rubbing especially to the white cloth. This technique can be used in home and in textile manufacturing industries.
What is the importance of colour fastness to rubbing?
Here are some of the reasons why color fastness to rubbing is important in the industry.
- It will allow the consumers to test the fabric before they can buy it. They will be able to invest in only high-quality fabric.
- Fabric manufacturer will test their products before sending them in the market. It will increase their credibility in market and more people will prefer to buy their clothes.
- Testing color fastness and tearing strength of fabric will allow sellers to only work with fabric manufacturers who have been producing high-quality products, so they can have more satisfied customers.
How is color fastness to rubbing evaluated?
There are different sets of Grey Scale that are used for measuring the staining ability of the cloth. The scale ranges from 1 to 5. if your cloth gets a rating of 5 it means there is no difference between an untreated and treated cloth. While if your cloth gets 1 it shows the highest contrast.
Colour fastness test procedure
The test methods that are commonly used for the testing process are AATCC 8 and BS EN ISO 105 X12. You will need a crockmeter to conduct the test. Testing material will be rubbed against the testing specimen and after that, it will be compared with the grey scale to check the quality of color fastness in the fabric. Here is a step by step guide on hoe to test the color fastness:
Apparatus
- Crockmeter
- Light box
- Cotton rubbing cloth
- Light source
- Pipette
- Grey scale
- Distilled water
Sample preparation
A smaple of 5 x 5 cm is taken and stitched to a monofiber of cotton fabric. The wetness index should be 80 to 85 and GSM value 115 to 120 g.
- In dry method the AATCC and ISO method are same and fabric is attached to flat bed. In 10 seconds the fabric will be stroked 10 times and results will be assessed.
- In wet technique the swatch is dipped into water with hardness 0 and pH 5.5 to 7.5. Pick up% of ISO should be 95 to 100% and pick up% for AATCC should be 65%.
Assessment
Rating is given according to the staining of cloth using grey scale. In weft way and warp way the directions of fabric is assessed for wet and dry technique. There are 9 parts in scale from 5 to 1. The difference of color is given a rating.
Ways to strengthen color fastness to rubbing
After the color fastness and tearing strength calculation of the textile, there are some ways that can be used to improve the color fastness of the fabric.
- It is better that you use a higher amount of floating dye because the fabric will absorb more dye them its saturation limit, so the dye will not stain.
- You should select a high-quality color for the process to get better results.
- After the dyeing process it is better to wash the cloth proper with soap to remove all the excessive color that might lead to stains. Soap blowing can be used as well to improve the color fastness of the clothes but it depends on the quality of dye you are using.
Summary
The fabric manufacturers should always test the fabric color fastness of the cloth before they can introduce their products in the market. That is the only way they can gain the trust of their consumers and increase their sales. As well as consumers should only buy fabric after testing the color fastness, so they will waste their money on low-quality products. Use the right technique of test color fastness and improving it to get better results.
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