The treatment of textiles with substances that modify their surface properties has been common practice from the most ancient times. The use of vegetable dyes for coloration, or starches to impart stiffness, use of animal or vegetable fats and oils to impart flexibility, water repellents and softness were used commonly.
The textile industry has placed an ever increasing demand on textile finishers to produce higher quality fabrics with special aesthetic properties. One of the families of finishes that contribute to textile aesthetics is textile softeners.
In an ongoing effort to improve the softness properties, either with respect to permanence or feel, many chemical modifications have been carried out, and it is common to find fattyesters, amines, ethoxylates, amides, cationic, anionic and quaternary functionalised products in daily use. In more recent years the notion of higher performance or "Premium" softeners has emerged, which places greater importance on the role of a softener to improve the solidity and wear properties of the treated fabrics, as well as the comfort characteristics, within today's stringent competitive economic environment. Amino Silicone Emulsions, Silicone Oil Emulsions and Silicone Resin Emulsions fulfil the major part of these requirements, for a number of reasons:
Due to their efficiency even at low levels, they are applied at lower concentrations than other softeners. Due to the "rich" hand obtained with silicones they are able to impart acceptable softness to fabrics made from cheap, short fibre, open end spun yarns, again making them price competitive.
Due to excellent surface and lubrication effects they resist abrasion and thus are able to prolong fabric life. They enhance characteristics imparted by mechanical finishing and produce fabrics with better easy care properties and comfort. Silicones have long been considered to be capable to impart an excellent soft, slick handle to the fabric’s surface.
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