Abstract
The microwave heating fixation method for textile printing was developed, where printed fabrics are irradiated through waveguide slit and heated. The dye fixation ratio obtained by microwave heating fixation method was estimated in terms of microwave power, microwave heating time, temperature of fabric surface, water regain for the pre-treated cotton fabric, and urea concentration of pre-treating agent. The dye fixation ratio of the microwave heating fixation method was higher than that of the conventionally-dry heat treatment. To get an enough dye fixation ratio, the microwave power for the microwave heating fixation method was generally 500 W, and water regain for the pre-treated cotton fabric was about over 21.3 wt%. The microwave heating time for the microwave heating fixation method was 20-80 sec by adjusting the urea concentration of pre-treating agent to 13.9-9.0 wt%. The temperature of fabric surface in microwave heating treatment was over 100 ℃ when it got high dye fixation ratio, and was the reaction initiation temperature of monochlorotriazine-based reactive dye. The urea concentration of pre-treating agent was contributed to increase dye fixation ratio and temperature of fabric surface in microwave heating fixation process. The results show that the microwave heating fixation method is a powerful technique for the dye fixation of reactive dyes by the printing method.
