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CLEANING WATERPROOF CLOTHING In these garments we find a lot of modern technology:- So why do people want to wash this 21st century garment with soap, a product that has been available from the 5th century? It would seem that somewhere along the line somebody has commented that their DWR finishes can be damaged by detergents, so the only alternative would seem to be soap, so off everybody went. If soap is so good why is there a synthetic detergent industry, and why is soap virtually never used by the textile industry? A probable reason is the understanding of what constitutes a detergent. According to the chemical industry a detergent is a complex mixture of surfactants, builders, alkali’s, bleaches, white dyes, softeners, enzymes and fragrances in short what we would refer to as washing powder. Soap is made by reacting fatty acids (usually from animal fat) with caustic alkali, the so called saponification reaction, to produce a surface active agent (surfactant) which consists of a hydrophilic head (water loving) and a hydrophobic tail (water hating). It functions as a washing aid by providing a bridge between the dirt and the water. Modern surfactants are made from oil industry feed stock to produce structures which consist of a hydrophilic head and a hydrophobic tail. They function in exactly the same way as soap, providing a bridge between the dirt and the water. Because of the vast choice of starting materials and modern chemical techniques, the properties of these surfactants can literally be designed according to individual requirements, unlike soap where what you get is …….soap! Going back to the DWR finish, current technology means that this is
usually a fluorocarbon polymer (SEE WATERPROOFING FABRICS) applied to
the textile by the fabric finisher under optimum conditions. There are
four main contributors that can result in a lack of performance after
domestic washing:- Retained washing aid is hydrophilic so it interferes with the water-shedding performance of the garment. This is usually due to the washing aid containing non-ionic surfactants which are difficult to remove, and which demonstrate a phenomena known as `cloud point`. All non-ionic detergents have a cloud point at which they cease to be soluble in water; above this temperature no amount of rinsing will remove them from the article. Unfortunately cloud point is also directly related to foaming so what we find in washing powders is high amounts of low cloud point non-ionic surfactant, in combination with alkali, exactly what we don’t want. So what we have done is to formulate a washing aid called Storm Fabric Cleaner, which generates little foam, of neutral pH value, that can be easily rinsed away. With the correct choice of modern surfactants we have therefore created a product suitable for washing our high tech waterproofs that not only does not interfere with the DWR, but can also be used in hard water areas without scum formation, unlike SOAP. Which areas of the UK have hard water? Generally speaking, hard water
is present in 60% of the land mass affecting around 80% of the population
(especially in the eastern, central and southern areas of England) and
to varying degrees in the rest of the UK. The water for some Northern
cities is supplied from naturally soft water reservoirs in Wales and
the Lake District. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, various levels of
hardness occur.
So if we take two samples of distilled water and two of hard tap water
and place them in clear containers they look exactly the same.
Now repeat the process taking the Storm Fabric Cleaner which is a specially formulated 21st century detergent and notice the difference. No cloudiness as both containers remain clear.
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