Some Facts about Light fastness

Textile Dyes and Pigments used in the industry vary to a great extent in terms of their resistance
to light sources and this phenomenon is called as Light-fastness of Textiles.Sunlight materials
electromagnetic radiations of several wavelengths. Visible range of spectrum (400 - 700 nm),
ultraviolet (300 - 400 nm) and infrared (700 - 1400 nm) become the main constituents which
reach to the earths surface. Colored materials like Textile, Leather and Paper when subjected
to the photons generated from the sunlight have tendency to destroy the coloring constituents of
dyes and pigments. Further prolonged exposure may even cause destruction to the substrate
itself. Partial destruction of the coloring material in dyes and pigment is known as fading. The
other detrimental effect could be change of tone or change of brilliance of the color. A consumer
when buys an apparel is attracted to the colors and if this color is altering / fading during usage
or laundering, the consumer gets frustrated, so it is responsibility of dyestuffs manufacturers to
safeguard and guide the processor about the fading behavior of a dye/pigment applied on the
substrate. There are many factors influencing the light fastness behavior.

Substrate and their diffusion properties.

Substrate preparation.
Chemical nature of the fiber.
Method of the application.
Delusterants in the substrate.
Finishing chemicals applied
Usage of the article.
Dye-fixers used.
Choice of colors and their combination.
Perspiration and exposure to light.
Prolonged exposure to light.
Oxidative or reductive nature of dye fading reaction.

Unfortunately, the tag labels on articles do give wash instruction but the guidance and
sustainability of the article to multiple exposures to light are not so popular. There are hardly any
indicators to guide the consumer regarding the resistance of the article towards sunlight fading.
Uncontrollable Factors
Content of UV amount in the sunlight: As more is the UV component more photons of
their light and more will be the effect on color with respect to fading.
The intensity of temperature from the sunlight falling on the article.

Relative Humidity
Higher the humidity, higher could be fading. This factor has impact on the wet-light
fastness and hence fading in varying humid environments comes into the picture.
Atmospheric contaminations.
Amount and quality of perspiration also play a crucial role in deciding the amount of
fading.
Laundering pattern.
Repeated laundering and exposure to sunlight or a single exposure to sunlight also
affects the degree of fading.
Some Guidelines

Higher the depth, better the light fastness.

Only right choice of colors can help in getting better light fastness and any corrective
actions would fail to improve the light fastness.
Right choice of textile chemicals to ensure that no detrimental effects of them on the light
fastness of dyed articles occur.
When use of more than one color is made in making a shade, the final light fastness of
the article will be based on the lowest light fastness constituent of the dye in the recipe.
This is more important when we want to ensure on-tone behavior of fading after
exposure to light (one component fading to smaller extent will give a further ugly
appearance to the shade than one with on-tone fading).