Colours have always fascinated man and right from the pre historic times he has always tried to use colour in whichever way possible in his life. Initially they were extracted from nature (i.e., from flowers, fruits) and these colours were known as the natural colours. He had been using various means to decorate the clothes he wore and here the chief source of colouring matter, until about a century ago, was natural colours especially the ones obtained from nature. These natural colours were initially used to dye natural fibres like cotton, wool, linen, silk etc. With the advent of...

Sizing softeners and lubricants are used to ease the conversion of loose fibre into spun yarn. Vegetable and synthetic tallows with or without mutton tallow are used as softeners and lubricants in sizing formulations. Emulsifiers are used in these formulations to promote easy subsequent scouring. Synthetic tallow is generally a mixture of paraffin wax, a vegetable oil and stearic acid, which is partly neutralized with NaOH to form a small amount of sodium stearate (soap), which acts as an emulsifying agent for the fatty and waxy materials.

Since their introduction in the 1950s reactive dyes have shown rapid growth; even today, developments are taking place. The combination of brightness, fastness and ease of application associated with reactive dyes enables this class of dyes to be the major class of dyes used today to colour cellulosic fibres.

Since their introduction in the 1950s reactive dyes have shown rapid growth; even today, developments are taking place. The combination of brightness, fastness and ease of application associated with reactive dyes enables this class of dyes to be the major class of dyes used today to colour cellulosic fibres.

Environmental considerations are now becoming vital factors during the selection of consumer goods including textiles all over world. India's textile industries have shown a remarkable dynamism in terms of growth and export performance. This has created a very healthy atmosphere for the growth of textile sector in our country. The majority of goods exported are cotton based. However due to increased awareness of the polluting nature of textile effluents, social pressures are increasing on textile processing units and the textile processors have come in for a lot of criticism compare to...