Direct Dye

Direct Dye is a class of dyestuffs that are applied directly to the substrate in a neutral or alkaline bath. They produce full shades on cotton and linen without mordanting and can also be applied to rayon, silk, and wool. Direct dyes give bright shades but exhibit poor washfastness. Various aftertreatments are used to improve the washfastness of direct dyes, and such dyes are referred to as “aftertreated direct colors.”Direct Dyes are molecules that adhere to the fabric molecules without help from other chemicals. Direct dyes are defined as anionic dyes with substantivity for cellulosic fibres, normally applied from an aqueous dyebath containing an electrolyte, either sodium chloride (NaCl) or sodium sulfate (Na2SO4)..

The dyeing process with direct dyes is very simple, Direct dyeing is normally carried out in a neutral or slight alkaline dyebath, at or near boiling point , but a separate aftertreatment such as cationic dye fixing , to enhance wet fastness has been necessary for most direct dyeing .

Direct dyes are used on cotton, paper,leather, wool, silk and nylon. They are also used as pH indicators and as biological stains

Chemicals Nature of Direct Dyes:

Chemically they are salts of complex sulfonic acids.

Structure:-More than 75% of all direct dyes are unmetallised azo structures, great majority of them are disazo or polyazo types.

Ionic Nature:-Their ionic nature is anionic.

Solubility:-They are soluble in water .

Affinity:-They have an affinity for a wide variety of fibers such as cotton ,viscose, silk jute ,linen etc.. They do not make any permanent chemical bond with the cellulosic fibers but are attached to it via very week hydrogen bonding as well as vander waals forces. Their flat shape and their length enable them to lie along-side cellulose fibers and maximize the Van-der-Waals, dipole and hydrogen bonds.

Types of Direct Dyes:

The SDC classification of direct dyes is follows

(1) Class A – dyes that are self-levelling, i.e. dyes of good migration or leveling properties.

(2) Class B – dyes that are not self-levelling, but which can be controlled by addition of salt to give level results; they are described as salt-controllable.

(3) Class C – dyes that are not self-levelling and which are highly sensitive to salt, the exhaustion of these dyes cannot adequately be controlled by addition of salt alone and they require additional control by temperature; they are described as temperature-controllable.