As consumers’ pursuit of beauty in clothing increases, their requirements for clothing color are also changing from practical to novel. With the help of modern high-tech, color-changing fiber materials can make the color or pattern of textiles change from conventional “static” to looming “dynamic” with changes in light, temperature, and humidity, and have gained rapid popularity in the textile field. development and wide application.
1 Types of discoloration materials and discoloration mechanism
(1) Photosensitive color-changing materials
Photosensitive color-changing material is a functional dye that can change color under the irradiation of ultraviolet or visible light, and can reverse back to its original color after the light disappears. Photosensitive color-changing materials mainly include silver chloride, silver bromide, stilbenes, spirocycles, norbornadienes, fulgide anhydride, triphenylmethane derivatives, salicylic acid aniline compounds, etc. At present, photochromic materials have been developed to have four basic colors: purple, yellow, blue, and red. The initial structures of these four types of light-changing materials are all closed-loop types, that is, they have no color when printed on fabrics, and they turn into purple, yellow, blue, and red when exposed to ultraviolet rays.
(2) Thermochromic materials
The reason why thermochromic materials can change color is that the color changer can cause changes in the internal structure, resulting in a change in color. When the temperature decreases, the color returns. Compared with photosensitive dyes, there is much more research on heat-sensitive dyes at home and abroad, especially in the application of textile printing, which has achieved certain results, and a series of heat-sensitive printing products have been released.
For example, the TC series produced by Japan’s Matsui Pigment Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. and the RT series produced in my country are heat-sensitive color-changing products. During the process of wearing, fabrics show changing colors depending on seasons, regions, and indoor and outdoor temperatures. Currently, those who can produce color-changing coatings and master the processing technology are mainly the United Kingdom, Japan, and Taiwan.
(3) Moisture-sensitive color-changing materials
The main reason for the discoloration of moisture-sensitive color-changing materials is that the humidity in the air causes structural changes in the dye itself, thereby changing the absorption spectrum of the visible part of sunlight. At the same time, environmental humidity has a certain catalytic effect on the discoloration of the color-changing body. The main component of moisture-sensitive color-changing dye color-changing printing paste is color-changing cobalt double salt. During application, the color-changing body is firmly adhered to the fabric through an adhesive. In order to make the color change sensitive, a certain sensitizer needs to be added to help the color change body complete this process, and a certain color enhancer is also added to increase the brightness of the color of the color change fabric.
If the color-changing paint in the printing color paste is cleverly combined and used for towels, bath towels, handkerchiefs, swimwear, beachwear, etc., unique printing patterns can be obtained. For example, Seilkaduel Color produced by Japan’s Dainichi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. is white when dry, and develops color after wetting and is reversible; SA Medium 9208 produced by Japan’s Mikuni Pigment Co., Ltd. is white when dry, and appears transparent after wetting. The pattern disappears.
2 Manufacturing technology of color-changing materials
In the field of textiles, the manufacturing technology of color-changing materials mainly includes color-changing fibers and color-changing dyes:
Color-changing dyes used in textiles are mainly thermochromic dyes, photochromic dyes and moisture-sensitive color-changing dyes. However, because the rubbing fastness and washing fastness of these dyes are not ideal, in the 1990s, microcapsule technology was introduced into the preparation of color-changing dyes, which made a qualitative leap in the application of color-changing dyes in textiles. Compared with printing and dyeing technologies, color-changing fiber technology has obvious advantages: the fabrics produced have good hand feel, good washing resistance, and the color-changing effect is longer-lasting.
The color-changing dyes currently used for dyeing also include spectral color-changing dyes, most of which are cationic dyes and acid dyes. This type of dye has different reflection peak sizes in different wavelength bands, thus showing a significant spectral discoloration effect, so that the yarn appears in different colors under different lights.
3 Application of color-changing materials in textiles and clothing
(1) Color-changing clothing
Color-changing clothing was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense as an “invisibility cloak” for soldiers that can change color with the surrounding environment. After the 1980s, color-changing clothing has been widely used in the civilian field. For example, Japan’s Toho Man-made Fiber Company has developed a color-changing garment called “Siweiyi”, which changes color when exposed to ultraviolet rays; Japan’s Toho Man-made Fiber Company The company has developed a thermochromic swimsuit that changes into various colors at different temperatures; British materials scientists have developed a liquid crystal clothing fabric that has unpredictable colors in the range of 28 to 33°C.
After entering the 21st century, the development of color-changing clothing has made greater progress. For example, Japan has studied a photochromic dye that can “dye” synthetic fiber fabrics with the color of the surrounding scenery and “melt” people’s clothing into the natural scenery. Medium; British scientists process liquid crystal material microcapsules into printable ink and apply it on the surface of a black fiber, which changes rapidly with different body parts and changes in body temperature to show charming colors; my country’s trial-produced photochromic acrylic thread, braided Ready-made garment materials can be��Changes in the light source convert color.
At present, the main clothing brands that sell color-changing clothing include American Del Sol, South Korea’s Bellany International Clothing Group, South Korea’s Benfei color-changing clothing, and South Korea’s Taiman color-changing clothing. The color-changing clothing on the Chinese market came out in 2004. It originated from South Korea’s Binfei color-changing clothing brand, which is affiliated to Diya Clothing. After successfully applying for a patent in 2011, it successfully entered the Chinese market.
(2) Anti-counterfeiting technology for famous brand clothing logos
Using “ultraviolet invisible text pattern”, “temperature change recognition” and “hand-feeling three-dimensional text” technologies in specific parts of the trademark, the authenticity can be identified through a currency detector or hand touch. If necessary, “infrared detection” can also be added, which greatly increases the technology content.
4 Development Trends of Color-Changing Materials
Color-changing fiber material is a high-tech functional fiber that has developed rapidly in recent years and is extremely vital. It has high added value and high efficiency. As high and new technologies continue to be introduced into this field, color-changing fiber will continue to develop and improve. In terms of color-changing dyes, there are not many color-changing dyes directly used in textile processing. The main reasons are that the dyes are expensive, have unsatisfactory high temperature resistance and light fastness, poor reusability and stability, and slow color fading. With the increasing demands for high-end and personalized clothing and the increasing demand for functional finishing fabrics, the development of new color-changing fiber materials and color-changing dyes will have good development prospects and broad application space.
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