Uses of Optical Brightener Technology

Well, to know about the uses of optical brightener technology, it is necessary to know what exactly it is. Optical brighteners are chemical substances which work as per the rule of fluorescence. Now, what is fluorescence?

Fluorescence refers to the re-emission of the blue light after absorption of ultraviolet light from any surface or material. And hence, the particular surface or material appears lighter in colour.

Optical brighteners follow this principle and hence they are beneficial in many industrial applications.

They are also known as fluorescent brightening agents (FBA), Fluorescent whitening agents (FWA), Optical brightening agents (OBA) and Optical brighteners.

The different uses of optical brightening agents can be mentioned as follows:

1. Brightening agents are used in treatment of polymers as well as various stages of textile finishing process.

2. As the brightening agents used in the textiles get washed away during washing clothes, they are also used as a component in the laundry detergents.

3. They are also used in the manufacturing of a few kinds of paper, especially papers, which require a high level of brightness.

4. They are also part of cosmetic industry. They are used in shampoos, conditioners, hair dyes, and other makeup products for eye and face. The benefit of using it in eye makeup products is that they make dark area near eyes appear bright.

5. Optical brighteners are used in plastic industry.

But, the textile industry is the area in which they are used extensively as the end consumers are always looking for whiter and brighter clothes. The property of the clothes to appear new and remain brighter for a longer period of time is always a key point in the decision making of the consumers to buy any textile product.

Optical brighteners are used for whitening and brightening natural polymer like cotton, wool, linen and silk as well as synthetic polymers like polyamide, polyester and polyacrylonitrile.

These textile materials are never completely white and hence to give a ‘whiter’ effect to them, the optical brighteners are used. Before they began to be used, various other methods were used, but now this is the only method used as they are very effective.

There are various types of OBA depending on the chemical structure of the molecules of the brighteners. And they are selected for various applications depending on certain factors.

With reference to the textile industry, they can be divided into 3 categories as below:

1. Anionic: Used for cotton, wool and nylon.

2. Cationic: Used for polyacrylonitrile fibre.

3. Nonionic: Used for PET, Acetate, polyacrylonitrile and Polyamide.

The optical brighteners should be of standardized quality to derive the maximum results out of their use and hence it is always preferable for the textile manufacturing companies to purchase them from the reputed manufacturers of optical brightening agents such as SHANDONG JILING CHEMICAL CO., LIMITED.