Light fastness improvement of dyed acrylic fibers using UV absorbers

The use of UV-absorbers in the dyeing of polyester to improve lightfastness is well known. In analogous manner, in this study the effect of ultraviolet (UV) absorbers on light fastness of acrylic yarns dyed in conventional dyeing process has been investigated. Under optimised dyeing conditions, the samples were dyed with a selection of basic dyes. Consequently, the samples were post-treated with five types of UV-absorbers. Regarding the photo-fading, the postdyeing treatment was evaluated from the reflection spectra in terms of the L, a, b, color coordinates and by measuring the difference ΔE between untreated and treated samples. Samples were subjected to Xenotest and FTIR-ATR spectroscopy, while the morphological structure of the dyed fibres was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). After the treatment, the acrylic fibres did not present any structural modifications and the specimens showed optimal values of light fastness.