Coloration of Calcium Alginate Fiber with Dyes and Auxiliary Derived from Polyvinylamine. Part II. Application of PVAm in Salt-free Dyeing with Reactive Dyes

Polyvinylamine (PVAm) was investigated as a pretreatment auxiliary for salt-free reactive dyeing of calcium alginate fibers in this study. The effects of pretreatment conditions and dyeing conditions on the dye exhaustion (E%) were studied by using six reactive dyes. Relatively high E% of 91–98% and 61–80% were obtained by using three monochlorotriazine/sulfatoethylsulfone reactive dyes and three dichloro-s-triazine reactive dyes, respectively. The dyed fibers were able to maintain high color fastness and tensile strength. Adsorption isotherm of reactive dyeing and XPS analysis were also applied to investigate the mechanism of multi-interactions among reactive dyes, PVAm, and calcium alginate fiber. It was concluded that PVAm was an effective pretreatment auxiliary for salt-free dyeing of alginate fibers with reactive dyes.