DRY-CLEANING, WASHING OR BLEACHING FIBRES, FILAMENTS, THREADS, YARNS, FABRICS, FEATHERS OR MADE-UP FIBROUS GOODS

**Definition:** This place covers:

Dry-cleaning or industrial washing of fibres, filaments, threads, yarns, fabrics, feathers, or made-up fibrous goods using organic, inorganic or aqueous baths. Processes include desizing or chemical preparation for subsequent chemical treatments like dyeing or the application of finishing agents. Furthermore, it includes the regeneration of used chemical baths, working under pressure in closed vessels, processes combined with mechanical means, and multi-step processes.

Bleaching fibres, filaments, threads, yarns, fabrics, feathers, or made-up fibrous goods, leather, or furs using, for example, reducing agents, enzymes, irradiation, ozonisation or optical bleaching and compounds which develop oxygen or which contain halogen.

**Glossary:** - Fibre: Fibre is a relatively short, elongated member or natural or artificial material. - Filament: Filament is an endless or quasi-endless, elongated member of natural or man-made material; - Thread: Thread is an assembly of yarns or filaments usually produced by twisting. - Yarn: Yarn is a unitary assembly of fibres or filaments, usually produced by spinning. - Fabric: Fabric is a planar textile structure produced by interlacing yarns, threads, fibers or filaments by a weaving, knitting or non-woven process. - Bleaching: Process of improving the whiteness of textile materials, with or without the removal of natural colouring matter and/or extraneous substances, by a bleaching agent - Brightening: Process of making textile materials brighter by using a brightener or optical brightening agent - Optical bleaching or brightening: Processes that give textile materials the effect of great whiteness and brightness by the use of optical brightening agents - Optical brightener, optical whitener, brightening agents, fluorescent brightener, fluorescent whitening agent: A substance that is added to an uncoloured or a coloured textile material to increase the apparent reflectance in the visible region by conversion of ultraviolet radiation into visible light and so to increase the apparent brightness or whiteness Optical brighteners, optical brightening agents (OBAs), fluorescent brightening agents (FBAs) or fluorescent whitening agents (FWAs) are chemical compounds that absorb light in the ultraviolet and violet region (usually 340-370 nm) of the electromagnetic spectrum, and re-emit light in the blue region (typically 420-470 nm). Fluorescent activity is a short term or rapid emission response, unlike phosphorescence, which is a delayed emission. These additives are often used to enhance the appearance of colour of fabric and paper, causing a "whitening" effect, making materials look less yellow by increasing the overall amount of blue light reflected. FLUORESCENT BRIGHTENING AGENTS are colourless fluorescent dyes. They are also called OPTICAL BRIGHTENERS. In accordance with their definition as "colourless" fluorescent dyes, Their colouristic performance is that of fluorescent dyes, without absorbing light in the visible range of the spectrum. They absorb ultraviolet rays present in incident sunlight. This absorbed ultraviolet light is re-emitted by the FLUORESCENT BRIGHTENING AGENT, which is of longer wavelength than the incident ultraviolet light and is known as the fluorescence light. This generally falls in the blue region of the visible spectra. The fluorescence light is then superimposed on the reflected light thereby restoring the balance of different colours and hence producing brilliant white effect. - Differential optical brightening: Process to optically brighten fibres which are of the same basic type, e.g. nylon, but with different optical brightening properties.