Study On Foaming Agents For Foam Finishing

Textile finishing using padding process consumes lots of energy, due to the requirement for the removal of a large quantity of water during the subsequent drying stage. Foam finishing process using air instead of water can effectively reduce energy consumption, and bring the single-sided finishing effect to the fabrics. However, systematic investigation of foam properties of the forming agents, especially the form properties in the presence of auxiliary, is still lacking. Therefore, this thesis analyzed the foam properties(foaming and foam stability) of anionic surfactants(alkyl sulfate type, polyoxyethylene ether sulfate type, sulfonate type, phosphate type, carboxylate type), nonionic surfactants(alkyl glucosides type, polyoxyethylene ether type) and surfactant mixture with DFA100(dynamic foam analyzer). The effect of external factors(such as acid, alkali, salt and temperature) on the properties of foam is also investigated. The current research is vital for the application of blowing agents in the area of foam finishing application. The main conclusions are as follows: 1. Study on the foaming properties of five anionic surfactants indicates: the foaming properties improve with the increased concentration of surfactants, but the effects varied significantly. With the increase in mass concentration of K12(alkyl sulfate type) and MAP K(phosphate type), the foam properties improve significantly; In contrast, the foam properties of LAS(sulfonate type), SLES(polyoxyethylene ether sulfate type) and AEC-9Na(carboxylic acid salt type) result in a minor increase. With the variation of the hydrophilic groups, foam properties are arranged from high to low: K12(alkyl sulfate type) > MAP K(phosphate type) > SLES(polyoxyethylene ether sulfate type) > LAS(sulfonate type) > AEC-9Na(carboxylic acid salt type). When the surfactant has the same hydrophilic group, the hydrophobic groups of anionic surfactants exert different effects; hydrophobic chain length of alkyl sulfate surfactants has little effect on foam properties. polyoxyethylene ether sulfate, as well as sulfonate type, the increase of hydrophobic chain length, the foam properties decrease. The foam performance of surfactant bearing NH4+ is better than that of the surfactant with Na+.Acid, alkali and salt have the different effects on the foam properties of anionic surfactants: acid and alkali proof performances are arranged from high to low: polyoxyethylene ether sulfate type(SLES, ALES) > carboxylate type(AEC-9Na) > sulfonate type(LAS, SAS) > alkyl sulfate IV type(K12, ALS) > phosphate type(MAPK); Compatibilities with sodium sulfate are arranged from high to low: polyoxyethylene ether sulfate type(SLES, ALES) >(K12, ALS) sulfate type carboxylate(AEC-9Na) > sulfonate type(LAS, SAS) > phosphate type(MAPK); The abilities of resisting hard water are arranged from high to low: polyoxyethylene ether sulfate type(SLES, ALES) > carboxylate type(AEC-9Na) > sulfonate type(LAS, SAS) > sulfate type(K12, ALS) > phosphate type(MAPK). Overall consideration anionic surfactants of the polyoxyethylene ether sulfate type have good compatibilities with additives. 2. Study on the foaming properties of two nonionic surfactants indicate: the foaming properties of alkyl polyglucoside(APG) nonionic surfactant improve with the increased mass concentration, but foaming properties tend to stable when the mass concentration reaches a certain date. With the change of alkyl number, the foaming properties are arranged from high to low: APG10 > APG0810 > APG1214 > APG08. The foaming abilities of polyoxyethylene ether( AEO) nonionic surfactant increase with the increased mass concentration, but foaming stabilities result in a minor increase. As the change of polyoxyethylene ether structure, the foaming properties are arranged from high to low: AEO- 7 > AEO 9 > AE0-5 ≈ AEO- 20.Acid and alkali have little effects on the foaming properties of nonionic surfactant. With the increase of mass concentration of sodium sulfate, the foaming properties of alkyl polyglucoside nonionic surfactant improve, but those of polyoxyethylene ether nonionic surfactant have a litter decline. However water hardness increases, the foaming properties of alkyl polyglucoside nonionic surfactant have a litter decline, then those of polyoxyethylene ether nonionic surfactant had little effection. 3. Temperature have significant inf luence on the foam properties of anionic or non-ionic surface active agent. When the temperature changes from 20℃to 30℃, foaming ability decreased 10%-40%, foaming stability decreased 20%- 50%. 4. Foaming properties of mixed surfactants are between those of two single surfactants, but the foam stability of compounding,APG10(nonionic) and MAP K(anionic) has synergy. The foaming properties are significantly affected by the surfactant with good foaming properties when two surfactants have the same hydrophilic group, but when two surfactants have the different hydrophilic group the foaming properties are signif icantly affected by the surfactant with bad foaming properties, The foaming properties of APG10/MAP K are superior to SLES/MAP K, but the foaming properties of SLES/MAPK are better under the external factors.