Fiber Reactive Dye Lab Report

When you go to the store and buy dyes, such as food coloring dye, they are useless if you want to tie dye your shirt. All they would do is stain your clothes and easily wash out. If you want a dye that chemically combines to your shirt so it doesn’t come out, I would suggest getting a fiber reactive dye. Fiber reactive dyes form covalent bonds between the dye you use and the fiber. The dye permanently attaches to the cellulose fibers using a covalent bond. Covalent bonds are the strongest bonds so the dye and the fiber will not easily break apart. The molecules that bond to the fiber carry along with them a chromophore which absorbs different spectrums of light, allowing only specific spectrums to reflect back for you to see. The reaction between the fibers and the dye depend on the pH of the surrounding environment. So, in order for the reaction to take place and hold together you need to raise the pH level of the surroundings of your …show more content…
This pre-soak raises the pH of your shirt to about 10.5. This increases the amount of negative hydrogen ions in the environment of your shirt. The covalent bonding that will take place uses these hydrogen ions in the reaction. This presoaking allows the reactive dye to work in room temperature. After you have pre-soaked your shirt for at least 4 hours, you can tie dye your shirt with the fiber reactive dyes. After you tie dye your shirt, you must wrap it in paper towel and put it in a gallon sized bag and wait 24 hours. This will allow the colors to sink into the shirt and allow the dye and the fiber to bond together. After you have waited 24 hours, you must rinse your shirt and wring it out several times. After this, you must put it in the washing machine to wash off the extra dye that did not bond to the fiber. Now you have successfully tie dyed a shirt with fiber reactive