Ageing (also called aging, stoving, and hanging) is a kind of after treatment process for certain

printed Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and Printmaking, images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabon ...

textile materials in which the goods are exposed to warm and moist atmosphere. Steaming is an evolved way to obtain the intended results. The objectives of the ageing process include the developing and fixing of the mordants and colors. The process is carried out using a variety of machines, including "loop agers."

Fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

hangs and runs over guide rollers as it is exposed to steam at a certain temperature and for a specific amount of time.

History

Initially, colours were fixed through the action of sunlight, air, and dew, which evolved into ageing rooms and, more recently, rapid-aging systems (in the form of steam-cabinets). Stoving was the early name used to describe the process of ageing in wooden or brick chambers heated by a furnace beneath. In stoving, temperature or heating was the consideration, while it ignored moisture application. When block printed material (one of the earliest forms of printing textiles) containing

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

mordants was thought to require merely heat to adhere to fabric, it was used. Those chambers were named "stoves." Stoving was first used to dry and age printed items, taking into account things like dye smearing and marking. Later, when it was found that steam and cold air without heat gave better results, stoving rooms were turned into ageing rooms.

D. Koechlin

D. Koechlin was the first to emphasize the critical nature of carefully regulating the

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

level in ageing rooms.

Process improvements

The machine which reduced the ageing time from days to hours was introduced by Thom and

Walter Crum Walter Crum FRS (1796–1867) was a Scottish chemist and businessman. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1844. Life He was born in Glasgow, the second son of Alexander Crum of Thornliebank, a merchant there, and of Jane, the eldest da ...

. John Thom developed the first system that provided for the methodical introduction of moisture into the oxidation chamber.

Purpose

While the term "ageing" is more commonly associated with printed items, the process also implies the

dyeing Dyeing is the application of dyes or pigments on textile materials such as fibers, yarns, and fabrics with the goal of achieving color with desired color fastness. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular ...

of Aniline black. It is a treatment for printed materials that is done afterward to achieve better fixation and make them last longer. The primary objectives of ageing include the development and fixation of mordants and colors. The following are some other areas where ageing has an effect. * Development of iron and aluminum mordants, aging improves the bleeding and spreading of color on non-printed areas. * Helps in

oxidation Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is ...

promotion in the case of application of Catechu brown, Aniline black, and manganese bronze.

Process

The treatment takes place in a chamber supplied with

saturated steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is ...

atmospheric pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as air pressure or barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1,013. ...

. The required conditions are created in an ager machine fitted with controls that maintain a specified temperature on the fabric for a fixed time frame. With continual feeding, an ager can hold and release the cloth. A variety of ageing machines are used for this purpose. The names of the ageing machines include loop ager, festoon ager, cottage steamer, star steamer, and tower ager. Some machines are used for batch processing, while others are used for continuous processing; a loop ager is a continuous type of machine. In some cases, loop ager is also employed in polyester dyeing.

Acid ageing

When acid vapours (from volatile acids) are used to conduct the action, this is referred to as acid ageing.

References

{{Reflist Textile techniques Textile printing Textile finishing machines