Textile Thickener – Leomine Thickener HEF

Textile Thickener – Standard solids polymer, low viscosity pourable synthetic thickening agent for pigment printing.

Chemical Nature : Acrylate synthetic thickening agent.

Features

• Milky white liquid.
• Miscible in water in all proportions.
• Suitable for water based and low solvent Pigment printing process.
• Suitable for Pigment discharge and resist printing.
• Swells rapidly in water.
• Has powerful thickening action.
• Non-hazardous with low toxicity.
• Stable on storage. Should be stirred before usage if drums are stored for prolonged duration.

Benefits

• Exhibits electrolyte stability.
• Results in sharp prints and excellent contour sharpness.
• No need to add acid donor for Solvent free Pigment printing since the product acts as an acid donor during hot-air fixation.
• Back addition can be easily done if viscosity of the print paste needs to be increased.
• Exhibits excellent wash fastness of prints.
• Results in good color strength, color brilliancy and soft handle.
• Does not require alkali for increasing viscosity
• Exhibits good running properties.
• Results in good levelness of prints.
• Stock pastes prepared with Leomine thickener HEF does not require filtering.

Ecology

• According to our experience Leomine thickener HEF does not exert any harmful effects on health provided they are used as per our recommendation. Does not contain APEO / NPEO.

Storage

This textile thickener has a shelf life of at least one year if stored in its tightly sealed original packing at temperatures between 5ºC and 35ºC in a dry place. Drums should be tightly resealed each time the material is taken from them, and their contents should be used up as soon as possible after they have been opened. Becomes paste like if stored for prolonged periods below freezing point. However it can be re-liquefied on warming under stirring.

Properties

Appearance: Milky White viscous liquid

Solubility: Miscible with cold water in all proportion

pH: 6 to 7

Stability

The pH of the stock paste should be maintained at 8.0

Compatibility

This textile thickener is compatible with most printing chemicals & pigment dispersions. Desired viscosity should be adjusted by back addition of Leomine thickener HEF.

Application

Sequence of Print paste preparation under high speed stirring

• Water —> Antifoam (Leomine Antifoam TCP) —> Leomine Binder BT —> Leomine Fixing agent LFF —> Leomine Soft LIG —> Leomine thickener HEF —> Pigments (Leomine PD series)
• pH of the print paste to be maintained at 8.

Water used should be of average hardness and adjusted to following viscosity

• Aqueous Printing – Approx. 80 dPas*
• Low solvent Printing – 60 – 70 dPas*
• *Measured with Haake Viscotester VT 02

Fixation :

• Hot-air fixation produces the optimum standard of fastness. The following temperatures and dwell times are recommended :
• 4-5 min at 150°C or 2-3 min at 160-170°C.
• Superheated steam fixation should be carried out for 5 – 7 min at a minimum of 160ºC
• This method also produces a good standard of fastness but somewhat inferior to that of prints fixed with hot air.

Guideline recipes for cotton and cotton-rich blends

Stock paste for solvent-free printing

• … g water
  2-4 g liq ammonia 25%
  80 -180 g Leomine Binder BT
  25.0 g Leomine Multifunction PCL
  30.0 g Leomine thickener HEF
  1.000 g

Stock paste for low-solvent printing

• … g water
  2-4 g liq ammonia 25%
  80 -180 g Leomine Binder BT
  25.0 g Leomine Multifunction PCL
  20.0 g Leomine thickener HEF
  150.0 g white spirit
  1,000 g

Please ask for shade card for entire range of Leomine PD series Pigment Dispersions

Safety

When using this textile thickener, the information and advice given in our Material Safety Data Sheet should be observed. Due attention should also be given to the precautions necessary for handling chemicals.