Dyeability of polyurethane nanofibres with disperse dyes

Abstract

Nanofibres enjoy broad technical applications in filtration, medical, biosensing, functional, and high-performance textiles. Recent trends/developments in nanofibre research have also focused on the coloration of nanofibres. In this context, polyurethane nanofibre webs, which have been commercially successful, were electrospun and dyed with a high-energy-level CI Disperse Red 167: 1 dye and a low-energy-level CI Disperse Blue 56 dye by the pad-dry-cure method. The dyed polyurethane nanofibres exhibited good colour strength values with acceptable colour fastness. Results revealed that the high-energy-level dye produced slightly better colour strength than the lower-energy-level dye. Further, scanning electron microscopy images showed that the morphologies of dyed and undyed nanofibres were almost identical.