Abstract
Supercritical CO2 fluid dyeing, a new type of anhydrous dyeing technology, has the advantage of high uptake rate, short dyeing process, recycling of dyes and CO2, and zero discharge. This study investigated a dyeing technique of loose fibers using supercritical CO2 as solvent to replace water. Based on the existing characteristics of the self-developed supercritical CO2 dyeing equipment, a special dyeing frame of loose fibers was designed. Using the dyeing frame and inner and outer dyeing processes, polyester fibers were dyed with disperse red 153# maternal dyes at temperatures of 80–140?, pressures of 17–29MPa and time of 20–80min, respectively. The experimental results revealed that the dyeing performance of fibers was good on the dyeing frame, as well as with a favorably increased temperature, pressure and time. Dyeing temperature had a strong influence on the color yield. The dyeing results were compared with those of polyester fibers dyed with disperse red 153# dyes. With the special dyeing frame of loose fibers, color fastness to washing and artificial light was generally similar to conventional aqueous medium methods.