Dyeing Fabrics with Metals

摘要

Traditionally, in textile dyeing, metals have been used as mordants or to improve the color produced by a natural or synthetic dye. In biomedical research and clinical diagnostics gold colloids are used as sensitive signals to detect the presence of pathogens. It has been observed that when metals are finely divided, a distinct color may result that is different from the color of the metal in bulk. For example, when gold is finely divided it may appear black, ruby or purple. This can be seen in biomedical research when gold colloids are reduced to micro-particles. Bright color signals are produced by few nanometer-sized particles. Dr. William Todd, a researcher in the Department of Veterinary Science at the Louisiana State University, developed a method of dyeing fabrics with metals. By using a reagent to bond the metal particles deep into the textile fibers and actually making the metal a part of the chemistry of the fiber. The chemicals of the fabric influence the resulting color. The combination of the element itself, the size of the particle, the chemical nature of the particle and the interaction of the metal with the chemistry of the fabric determine the actual hue. By using different elements, reagents, textiles and solvents a broad range of reproducible colors and tones can be created. Metals can also be combined into alloys, which will produce a variety of colors. The students of the ISCC chapter at the Fashion Institute of Technology dyed fabric using Dr. Todd's method and created a presentation of the results. They also did a demonstration of dyeing fabrics with metals.