Abstract
Wool fabrics were dyed with the aqueous solution of C. I. Red Acid 114 mixed with methanol dissolving three kinds of barely water soluble ketones, acetophenone, 2-pentanone, and 3-pentanone. The steric hinderance and the orientation of the bigger hydrophobic part of the solvated dye molecules to the fiber slowed down the dying rate, however, loosening the wool molecule, say a little swelling, disaggeregating the dye molecules, and attaining the higher dye concentration on the fiber surface by the added solvents increased the amount of dye on the fabric. The higher concentration or/and the higher dyeing temperature helped loosen fiber molecules and made it easier for the solvated dye molecules to penetrate into the inside of the fiber. Acetophenone, the most influential solvent used, showed that the ability to loosen fiber molecules was the most important of all the three positive solvent actions mentioned above. The considered mechanism provided before reflected the fact that the dye uptake on the fabric dyed with the solvents included, except for 0.034M and 0.051M of acetophenone, was even lower than that without any solvents at $50^\circ{C}$, but all the solvents added to the dye bath increased the dye uptake on the fiber at $70^\circ{C}$.