EFFECT OF HARDNESS OF WATER ON TEXTILE WET PROCESSING

Water is used significantly in the textile industry's various processing operations. The success of textile wet processing strongly depends on a consistent and clean supply of good-quality water. Hence, it is imperative to bestow the greatest attention towards the quality of water. Any problem in textile processing is usually associated with the water used. It is therefore essential to first test the sample of water to obviate any difficulties that the textile processing unit may face. Usually, water is considered to be unsuitable for textile processing if it contains more than 250ppm parts of hardness. Hardness in water causes wastage of dyes, chemicals and soaps, dullness of shades, uneven and patchy shades in dyeing and printing, poor fastness in shade in processed fabric, corrosion of the boiler and vessels. Keeping this in mind, the present work was carried in textile chemistry laboratory of Banasthali Vidyapith. The main objective was to see the effect of hardness of water on wet textile processing. The procedure adopted was divided into three phases. In first phase, fabric and raw materials were collected and water was prepared in textile chemistry laboratory by the researcher herself. The second phase included procedure adopted for carrying out wet textile processing (desizing, scouring, bleaching, and dyeing) with three different water samples (hard, moderately hard and soft). In the last phase, the treated samples were analyzed on the basis of percentage weight loss, whiteness index and color fastness test, percentage dye absorption and wettability test etc. It was observed that weight loss after desizing process (enzymatic desizing) was found to be more with soft water as compared to the hard and moderately hard water. In the scouring process, it was found that with moderately hard water, weight loss percentage was more as compared to soft and hard water. In the bleaching process, it was found that sample was more white when treated with moderately hard water compared to hard and soft water. In dyeing process, it was found that intensity of shades in sample treated with moderately hard water was more as compared to hard and soft water. It can also be said that some degree of hardness is required for textile wet processing.