Fabric Dye

The present invention relates to a product for washing and dyeing fabric articles. In particular, the invention is directed towards a product for washing 5 and dyeing fabric articles domestically.

Dyeing products have been available for use domestically for many years to dye, in particular, natural cellulosic fabrics. Direct, Acid and Disperse dyes were available for home use in the 1960s and 1970s. These products were used0 at high temperatures and stained the washing machines, and the dyes would gradually wash out of the fabric. These dyes were gradually replaced by so- called "reactive" dyes in the early 1980s. These "reactive" dyes react with cellulosic fabrics to form a covalent bond and overcame many of the disadvantages of the previous dyes. They did not wash out of the fabrics, did5 not stain the washing machines and could be used at lower temperatures. Examples of "reactive" dyes include compounds with the reactive groups Triazine, Pyrimidine and Vinyl Sulphone.

In order for the "reactive" dye to work and to dye the cellulosic fabric, it is0 necessary to introduce an alkali. An example of the type of reaction is given below for vinyl Sulphone with cellulose.

Dye:SO ₂ .CH ₂ .CH ₂ .O.SO ₃ H + OH ^" → Dye:SO ₂ .CH=CH ₂ + cell-OH → Dye:SO ₂ .CH ₂ .CH ₂ .O.cell 5

A problem with obtaining level results in the degree of dyeing from the reactive dye in the presence of the alkali results from the fact that the fabric (cellulose) has to be evenly and thoroughly wet before the reaction starts to occur. Once the dye has formed the covalent bond with the cellulosic fabric0 the dye cannot move and therefore cannot "migrate". If the fabric has not been

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evenly wetted, the wet areas will start to be dyed sooner and will therefore ultimately end up a stronger colour than those areas which take longer to get wet. In order to try and avoid this problem, the fabric is either made wet by submersion or washing by hand or machine prior to the commencement of the 5 dyeing process, or the alkali is added to the machine after the dye has had a chance to be evenly distributed in the fabric. These two alternatives are set out below.

Option 1: 0 Stage 1 - wet fabric (by hand or machine) Stage 2 - dye fabric (in machine) Stage 3 - wash off excess dye / clean machine

Option 2: 5 Stage 1 — wet fabric with dye solution (in machine) Stage 2 - add alkali to 'fix' dye Stage 3 — wash off excess dye / clean machine

These two alternatives are multi-stage operations which require either the0 separate wetting of the fabric before the dye is added or a separate stage to add alkali once the fabric has been wetted with the dye solution. There is therefore a need to provide an effective reduced stage process in which the fabric may be dyed in a reduced number of steps. 5 According to the present invention there is provided a composition for the dyeing of fabrics, said composition comprising at least one reactive dye, an alkali, a detergent, a wetting agent selected from the sulphosuccinate class or alcohol ethoxylate class, and salt.

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The dye maybe any type of reactive dye and with any type of reactive group, for example, selected from Triazine, Pyrimidine and Vinyl Sulphone. The alkali may be any suitable alkali, for example, sodium carbonate, sodium silicates or sodium phosphates. The detergent may be any effective detergent 5 which does not interact with the reactive dyes. For example, the detergent may be selected from the alkyl aryl sulphonate class. The wetting agent may optionally be sodium dioctyl sulphosuccinate or isotridecanol ethoxylate.

The composition may optionally further include one or more further ingredients0 selected from a perfume, foam inhibitor, de-dusting agent, fabric softener and anti-bacterial agent or any combination of the above.

The composition according to the present invention results in extremely effective wetting to make the fabric thoroughly and evenly wet almost 5 instantaneously prior to the commencement of the chemical reaction between the reactive dye and the cellulose present in the natural fibre. The composition of the present invention is effective on all cellulosic containing fibres including cotton, linen, viscose and combinations of the above with other manmade fibres. For example, the dye will also evenly stain the cotton portion of a0 polyester/cotton mix.

The composition also contains a detergent to clean any stains off of the fabric prior to the dyeing reaction because the presence of stains on the fabric may lead to unlevel results. An important feature of the present invention is that the5 wetting agents and the detergents which are employed do not interfere with the subsequent reaction between the dye and the cellulose.

The product is preferably in the form of an all-in-one product which is a powder formulation. The powder formulation has to be kept dry before

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addition to the machine as any water present would lead to hydrolysis of the reactive group on the dye.

The dye or combination of dyes are present in the composition at a 5 concentration to be effective, for example at a concentration in the range 0.01- 25% by weight, or 0.1-20% by weight, or 0.5-15% by weight, or 1-10% by weight, or 2-9% by weight, or 3-8% by weight.

The wetting agent or agents are present at an effective level, for example in the0 range 0.01-3% by weight, or 0.05-2.5% by weight, or 0.1-2% by weight, or 0.3-1.5%, or 0.5-1% by weight.

The detergent or detergents are present at an effective level, for example in the range 0.01-3% by weight, or 0.1-2.75% by weight, or 0.2-2.5% by weight, or 5 0.5-2% by weight, or 0.75-1.5% by weight.

The alkali or alkalis are present at an effective level, for example is preferably present in the range 1-70% by weight, or 5-60% by weight, or 10-50% by weight or 15-40% by weight, or 20-35% by weight, or 25-35% by weight. 0

The present invention may be put in to practice in a number of different ways and a number of embodiments will be described here in further detail by way of non-limiting example. 5 A dark navy combination for a 400 gram dose dyeing up to lkg fabric in a domestic washing machine has the composition according to the present invention as set out below:

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CI Reactive Black 5 (Dye) 6.25%

CI Reactive Red 159 (Dye) 0.80%

Sodium dioctyl sulphosuccinate (wetting agent) 0.75%

Sodium dodecylbenzene sulphonate (detergent) 1.00% 5 Anti-foam 2.00%

Perfume 0.50%

Sodium metasilicate anhydrous 5.00%

Sodium carbonate anhydrous 25.00%

Salt balance 0 lkg of cotton fabric was placed in a domestic washing machine and a normal washing cycle at 4O ⁰ C was run. Any temperature within the normal range of domestic operation may be used as appropriate for the fabric, for example a temperature in the range 5-95 ⁰ C. The excess dye was then washed off and the5 washing machine cleaned in a standard washing cycle, for example with a normal detergent at a temperature in the range 5-95 ⁰ C. At the end of the wash and dye process the fabric was checked for evenness of dyeing. The products found to be dyed evenly across the whole of the fabric. 0 A comparison test was then run for a dyeing composition with the wetting agent included in accordance with the present invention and without such a wetting agent. 40Og of a chocolate brown dye according to compositions 1 and 2 below, was tested on lkg cotton, dyed at 4O ⁰ C in a Bosch washing machine. Composition 1 in the table below includes sodium dioctyl sulphosuccinate as a5 wetting agent (in accordance with the present invention) whereas composition 2 has just sodium dodecylbenzene sulphonate.

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The fabric dyed within composition 1 had a level appearance whereas the fabric dyed with composition 2 was extremely patchy. Both fabrics were of equal colour strength. The test shows the effectiveness of the composition according to the present invention in producing fabrics with even dyeing in a process with a reduced number of steps.