Grassing (textiles)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about a method of bleaching. For other uses, see Grassing (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Gassing (textile process).
Grassing, laying out linens to bleach in sunlight

Grassing is one of the oldest methods of bleaching textile goods. To bleach linen and cotton-based fabrics, the Grassing method has been used. Linen has long been bleached in Europe with Grassing method.[1]

Method[]

The linens were laid out on the grass for over seven days after boiling with the ''lyes of ashes and rinsing''.[2] It was Oxygen of the atmosphere and the oxygen left by the grass was providing whitening action. The cloth becomes whiter day by day until it attains the full whiteness. It was a slow process, but safer for the subjected material. In chemical bleaching the bleach may harm the cloth too, but in the Grassing it hardly affects the cloth's strength.[1][3][4]

Bleachfield[]

Bleachfield was an open area to spread cloth, it was an field near watercourse used by a bleachery. Bleachfields were common in and around the mill towns during the British Industrial Revolution[5]

Chemical bleaching[]

After discovering Chlorine in the late 18th century, when chemical bleaching came into existence, the chemical bleaching rose above Grassing, as it was quicker and possible in indoors.[1][5][2]

Oxygen bleaching action[]

It is the conjugated double bonds of the substrate that makes the substrate capable of absorbing visible light. Hence, it looks yellower and need bleaching. When bleaching action carries out with oxygen, it removes the chromophoric sites and makes the cloths whiter. Oxygen is a degrading bleaching agent. Its bleaching action is based on ''destroying the phenolic groups and the carbon–carbon double bonds.''.[6] The major source of chemical bleaching is Hydrogen peroxide H
2O
2 that contains a single bond, (–O–O–). When breaks give rise to very reactive oxygen specie, which is the active agents of the bleach. Around sixty percent of the world Hydrogen peroxide is used in chemical Bleaching of textiles and wood pulp.[7]

Gallery[]

  • Early method of bleaching cotton and linen goods on lawns

  • Linen Bleaching/ Grassing

  • Bleaching Ground

  • Market and washing place in Flanders

  • A bleach worker

  • Bleaching vats for cloth in the piece.

  • High Pressure Blow-through Kier

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Nystrom, Paul Henry (1916). Textiles. D. Appleton. p. 266. Grassing . — The oldest bleaching method is that of “ grassing , ” still used to a certain extent in Europe for bleaching linens. The linen fabrics are laid on the grass or ground for weeks . The oxygen of the air and that given off by green plants
  2. ^ a b Sansone, Antonio (1888). Dyeing: Comprising the Dyeing and Bleaching of Wool, Silk, Cotton, Flax, Hemp, China Grass &c. A. Heywood & son. p. 109.
  3. ^ Fraser, Grace Lovat (1948). Textiles by Britain. G. Allen & Unwin. p. 136.
  4. ^ England), Textile Institute (Manchester (1923). Journal of the Textile Institute. The Institute. p. 125.
  5. ^ a b Aspin, C. (Christopher) (1981). The cotton industry. Internet Archive. Aylesbury : Shire Publications Ltd. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-85263-545-2.
  6. ^ "Bleaching Agent - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  7. ^ Hage, Ronald; Lienke, Achim (2006). "Applications of Transition-Metal Catalysts to Textile and Wood-Pulp Bleaching". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 45 (2): 206–222. doi:10.1002/anie.200500525. ISSN 1521-3773. PMID 16342123.
Retrieved from ""