Pigment Washing Process:
Pigment washing process is similar to a normal washing process but a bit costlier. Garments are made from pigment dyed or pigment printed fabric. Then the garments are subjected to pigment wash. By pigment washing, fading effect is produced in the garments.
Pigment wash is costlier so washing mill may charge you a little more because of the following reasons.
When the garment is made of solid color pigment dye, we normally would want the solid color to fade evenly in washing, leaving a prominent washed effect on the garment. In order to achieve the result as described above, it is important that the washing mill observes the following in washing:
To use hot water to wash (Normal wash needs about 40ºC to wash). Pigment wash needs 50ºC to 60ºC to wash so that the color would fade more evenly.
Do not stuff the tumble with too much. Try to load the tumble with 60 or 70% of its capacity so that the garments inside the tumble can turn “comfortably”. As a result, the color of the garment fades evenly.
If you load the tumble full, the garment may turn out to be streaky after wash due to hard rubbing on the same spot inside the tumble for lack of random movement. In this article, I will explain pigment washing process with step by step.
Flow Chart of Pigment Washing:
Step 01: Desizing
Water is added (400 ltr)
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Garments are added
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Machine started running
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320 gm Detergent added
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320gm Caustic soda added
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600gm Soda ash added
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Temperature raise to 60°C
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Time 20-60 minutes
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Drop the liquor
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Add water and cold wash
Step 02: Softening
Water is added (400 ltr)
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Garments are added
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Machine started running
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240 gm Softener added
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200gm Acetic acid added
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160gm silicon softener added
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Temperature Cold
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Time 15 minutes
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Drop the liquor
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Unlaod garments on trolley
Step 03: Hydro Extracting
Load the garments on machine
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R.P.M 700-900
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Time 3-5 minutes
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Unload the garments on trolley
Step 04: Drying
Load the garments on dryer machine
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Temp 60- 70°C
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Time 40-50 minutes
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Time 10-15 minutes for cold dry
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Unload the garments
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Quality checking
During pigment wash, batch size should be less than 30% to 40% of the machine loading capacity. Otherwise fading effect produced may be unsatisfactory due to lack of frictional effect. This process may be applied on, single color or multi-color pigment dyed or pigment printed garments.
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