The role of auxiliaries in the immersion dyeing of textile fibres: Part 6 analysis of conventional models that describe the manner by which inorganic electrolytes promote reactive dye uptake on cellulosic fibres

An analysis is provided of the various models that have been proposed to account for the manner by which added NaCl or Na2SO4 promotes the uptake of reactive on cellulosic fibres. Although conventionally, mathematical interpretations of isothermal equilibrium dye adsorption data are employed to describe the mechanism by which reactive dye adsorption occurs, such an approach does not satisfactorily explain why reactive dyes display inherently low uptake on cellulosic fibres in the absence of added inorganic electrolyte, nor does it explain why added inorganic electrolyte is so effective in promoting dye uptake.