A fabric softener sheet put in the dryer works much the way a liquid fabric softener does.
But it includes agents that disperse very small amounts of softening and antistatic components throughout the warm air that permeates the damp fabrics.
Fabric softening agents are surfactants, chemicals that reduce the tension at the surface where two different materials meet.
Soap and detergents are surfactants that reduce oil-water surface tensions and thus help wash out oily dirt.
Surfactant molecules have two components, one soluble in oil that resists water and one soluble in water.
Those used to soften fabrics have a high proportion of fatty material, generally long fatty chains, with water-soluble groups that may be anionic (negatively charged), cationic (positively charged) or nonionic (uncharged).
The fatty agent puts an extremely thin coating of oil at the interface of two moving surfaces, so they slip by each other easily and without friction.
Cationic or nonionic solubilizing groups help reduce static buildup resulting from the presence of negatively charged ions.
Dimethyl tallow ammonium chloride is a typical cationic softener and polyethylene glycol monostearate is a typical nonionic softener.
Related Posts
-
When Were Fabric Softeners Invented and How Do Fabric Softeners Reduce Static Electricity In Clothes?
The earliest fabric softeners were developed during early 20th century and were based on a water emulsion of soap and olive oil, corn oil, or tallow oil. Static build-up in clothing is caused…
-
How Do Fabric Softener Dryer Sheets Eliminate Static Electricity In the Dryer?
The stuff in the dryer sheet happens to be good at both jobs. You can obtain the static-elimination function all by itself as a liquid in a spray can, so you can de-static…
-
Where does the term “sheet anchor” come from and What does sheet anchor mean?
The derivation is somewhat obscure, although some authorities believe that the name for this emergency anchor comes from shot-anchor, or shoot-anchor, since, if an emergency actually came about, it would have been "shot"…
-
Why Do Clothes Shrink and Why Does Cotton and Wool Fabric Shrink More Than Synthetic Fibers?
Clothes shrink because of the chemical and physical properties of fibers from natural sources, especially cotton, wool and linen. The individual fibers in yarns are made of long polymer chains, or strands of…
-
How does Bleach get clothes white and How does Clorox work?
Most laundry bleaches, including the household wizard Clorox bleach, are oxidizing agents. In the washing machine they release free-roving molecules of sodium hypochlorite or peroxide. The color of a stain or spot is…
-
Who Invented Dry Cleaning Using Chemical Solvent and How Does Dry Cleaning Work To Clean Clothes?
French dye-works owner Jean Baptiste Jolly discovered dry cleaning with petroleum-based solvents in the mid-19th century. Dry cleaning is dry in the sense that the solvents used have no water. Although they are…
