Abstract: As a new kind of low water consumption and energy-saving continuous dyeing process, foam dyeing caused an upsurge of research interest in the world. In this study, K/S value and soaping fastness as the response values were used to evaluate the foam dyeing effect. The influences of dye foam ratio, wet pickup, stabilizing agent concentration, alkaline agent concentration, steaming temperature and steaming time on the foam dyeing effects were studied by Plackett-Burman design, steepest ascent experiment and Central Composite design experiments. The results indicated that the steaming temperature, stabilizing agent concentration and steaming time were the most crucial factors that affect the foam dyeing effects. When their values were set as 0.92g/L, 149.5℃ and 3.97min respectively, K/S value got to the highest value and the washing fastness was up to 4 level.

Key words: foam dyeing, reactive dye, response surface, cotton fabric