Radiation curing can offer many advantages in textile coating and printing processes. In this paper some results are given of a study on UV-curable coatings and the investigation of UV-curable binders for pigment printing.

In the development of new and improved bleach systems for laundry detergents there is a need for a reliable and generally accepted protocol to test on fibre damage. Several methods for measurement of damage to cotton are published in the international standards. In an inter-laboratory test some of these methods were applied to cotton that was repeatedly washed with bleach containing laundry detergents. It was found that not all measurements give consistent results. Based on the findings tensile strength loss measurement is regarded as the method of choice for determination of fibre damage by bleach containing detergents.

In this paper a new protocol to support comparative testing of European laundry detergents is described. This protocol has been developed by A.I.S.E., the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance products, to assess the primary (i. e., stain removal) and key secondary performance (whiteness, colour safety and colour transfer) of Household Laundry Detergents and Laundry Additives. The main purpose of designing and supporting a minimum test protocol across A.I.S.E. members and external stakeholders has been to improve the available comparative testing methodologies, while it is not intended to become a standard methodology in the detergent industry. This was carried out by setting minimum requirements for a reliable comparison of detergent quality which is particularly important for test institutes and consumer organisations running comparative performance tests.

In the development of new and improved bleach systems for detergents there is a need for a reliable and generally accepted protocol to test colour and fibre damage. We here describe a protocol to screen detergents on colour damage/fading under European wash conditions, using a recently developed set of dyed fabrics.The test protocol has been evaluated in an inter-laboratory test and was found to be robust in the sense that it gave similar results in different laboratories. Hence the protocol described is recommended for testing the colour damage/fading properties of oxidative bleach containing detergents for the European market.

Linitest and washing machine results have been compared for the assessment of dye damage/colour fading. 14 dyes of the AISE Monitor Dye Set for bleach induced dye fading were applied in several multi-cycle washes in both devices. It has been shown that dye fading in both applications correlated well with bleach containing detergents, although often the absolute level of fading was higher in a washing machine. Both systems identified the same dyes as being either problematic or safe. On the other hand experiments without a bleach system revealed that dye fading in a washing machine could be different from that generated in a Linitest.