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Colour by Design

How dyes attach to fibres

  • 3 things to know
  • Components 01, 02 and 03

Overview

Recall questions on why a dye must bond rather than sit on the fibre, why such molecules are long and flat, and why the weakest-bound dyes wash out.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Process

Why must a dye bond to a fibre, why are such dyes long and flat, and why do the weakest-bound ones wash out?

Process

Wool and nylon take acid dyes well but polyester does not. Explain why.

Key term

Why are fibre-reactive dyes the most wash-fast of all?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why must a dye bond to a fibre rather than simply sit on its surface?

    Model answer

    Without bonding the dye would rub off or wash out, so the bonds are what give a dyed fabric its fastness.

  2. 2

    Name the three broad kinds of bonding by which dyes attach themselves to fibres.

    Model answer

    Intermolecular bonds, ionic bonds and covalent bonds.

  3. 3

    State the three types of intermolecular bond that can hold a dye onto a fibre.

    Model answer

    Instantaneous dipole–induced dipole bonds, permanent dipole–permanent dipole bonds and hydrogen bonds.

  4. 4

    Why are dyes that rely on intermolecular bonding usually long, flat molecules?

    Model answer

    A long flat molecule can lie closely alongside the fibre chains, maximising contact so that many intermolecular bonds form.

  5. 5

    Which groups on a dye and on cotton allow hydrogen bonding between them?

    Model answer

    –OH and –NH₂ groups on the dye hydrogen bond to the –OH groups of the cellulose chains in cotton.

  6. 6

    Explain why a dye held only by instantaneous dipole–induced dipole bonds washes out readily.

    Model answer

    Each such bond is weak, so water molecules competing for the fibre and for the dye can easily pull the dye away.

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