A fabric softener (recently called fabric conditioner by some manufacturers for marketing purposes) is a chemical compound normally applied to laundry during the rinsing cycle in a washing machine. Unlike clothing detergents, fabric softeners can be regarded as a kind of laundry aids, along with soil and stain remover, water softener, bleach, fabric confinement, and cloth freshener.
Video Fabric softener
Action mechanism
Washing machines provide great mechanical pressure on textiles, especially natural fibers such as cotton and wool. The fibers on the fabric surface are pinched and frayed, and this condition hardened while drying the laundry in the air, giving the laundry a rough feeling. Adding the liquid fabric softener to the final rinse (softening of the rinse cycle) results in a softer, softer laundry.
In the United States and England most laundry systems are dried by mechanical dryers, and the fall of laundry in the dryer has its own softening effect. Therefore, fabric softeners in the United States/United Kingdom are used to give antistatic properties and pleasant odors to laundry. Fabric softener is usually a liquid, which is added to the washing machine during the rinse cycle; or as sheets impregnated with fabric softener added to wet wash at the beginning of the dryer cycle. Fabric softener softener can be added manually during the rinsing cycle or automatically if the machine has a dispenser designed for this purpose. Washing machines in the US sometimes lack this dispenser.
Fabric softener coats the surface of the fabric with an electrically charged chemical, causing the yarn to "stand" from the surface so that the fabric feels softer and makes it more fluffier. The cationic softener is bound by the electrostatic attraction to the negatively charged group on the fiber surface and neutralizes its charge. The long aliphatic chain then marches toward the outside of the fiber, providing lubrication.
The fabric softener provides good antistatic properties to the fabric, thereby preventing the buildup of electrostatic charges on synthetic fibers, which in turn removes cling fabric during handling and discharging, crackling sounds, and dust lure. Also, fabric softener makes the fabric easier to iron and helps reduce wrinkles in clothing. In addition, they reduce the drying time so that energy is saved when the softened laundry is dried in the sun. Last but not least, they can also provide a pleasant aroma for laundry.
Maps Fabric softener
Fabric Softener
The earliest cotton softener is usually based on soap water emulsions and olive oil, corn oil, or tallow oil. The softening compounds differ in affinity to the various fabrics. Some work better on cellulose-based fibers (ie, cotton), others have a higher affinity for hydrophobic materials such as nylon, polyethylene terephthalate, polyacrylonitrile, etc. New silicone-based compounds, such as polydimethylsiloxane, work by lubricating the fibers. Manufacturers use derivatives with functional groups containing amines or amides as well. These groups repair the fabric softener bonds.
Because the softener is often hydrophobic, it usually occurs in the form of an emulsion. In the preliminary formulation, manufacturing uses soap as an emulsifier. Emulsions are usually opaque, milky fluids. However, there is also a microemulsion, where the hydrophobic phase drops are substantially smaller. Microemulsions provide the advantage of increasing the ability of smaller particles to penetrate into the fibers. Manufacturers often use mixtures of cationic and non-ionic surfactants as emulsifiers. Another approach is the polymer network, emulsion polymer.
In addition to fabric softening chemicals, fabric softeners may include acids or bases to maintain optimum pH for absorption, silicone-based foam materials, emulsion stabilizers, fragrances, and colors.
Fabric cationic softener
Rinse cyclone softeners typically contain cationic surfactants of the quaternary ammonium type as the main active ingredient. Cationic surfactants adhere well to natural fibers (wool, cotton), but less so to synthetic fibers. Cationic softeners are incompatible with anionic surfactants in detergents as they join them to form solid deposits. This requires the softener to be added in the rinse cycle. Fabric softener reduces textile absorption, which adversely affects the function of towels and microfiber cloth.
Previously, the active ingredient of most softeners in Europe, the United States, and Japan, was distearyldimethylammonium chloride (DSDMAC). Due to his poor biodegradability, he has been replaced by the esterquat that easily decomposes in the 1980s and 1990s.
Conventional softener, containing 4-8% active ingredients, has been partially replaced in many countries by a softening concentrate having some 12-30% active ingredient.
- Cationic surfactants are used as fabric softener
Anionic fabric softener
Anionic softeners and antistatic agents may, for example, salts of monoesters and diesters of phosphoric acids and fatty alcohols. These are often used in conjunction with conventional cationic softener. Cationic softeners are incompatible with anionic surfactants in detergents as they join them to form solid deposits. This requires that they be added in the rinse cycle. The anionic softener may be combined with an anionic surfactant directly. Other anionic softeners may be based on smectite clays. Some compounds, such as ethoxylated phosphate esters, have a softening, anti-static, and surfactant properties.
Risk
Like soaps and detergents, fabric softeners can cause irritant dermatitis. Manufacturers produce some fabric softener without coloring and perfume to reduce the risk of skin irritation. Softly-used softener fabrics can make clothing more flammable, due to the most fat-based softening properties. Some deaths have been associated with this phenomenon, and fabric softener makers advise against using them on clothing labeled flame retardant.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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