Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-03-27 Origin: Site
In the field of textile finishing, amino silicone oil has long served as the core component of fabric softeners, renowned for its exceptional softening and smoothing properties. However, traditional amino silicone oils commonly suffer from high amine values, leading to issues such as fabric yellowing, reduced hydrophilicity, equipment roll sticking, and the potential release of organic amines under certain conditions. Leveraging its position as the largest manufacturer of block silicone oil in China with over two decades of specialized experience, Zhejiang Kefeng Silicone Co., Ltd. introduces its Environmentally Friendly Low-Amine Value Amino Silicone Oil series. By controlling the amine value at an extremely low level through innovative molecular design while maintaining excellent softening performance, this product achieves a high degree of integration among softness, whiteness retention, and environmental safety.
The amine value in amino silicone oil—defined as the millimoles of amino groups per gram of silicone oil—is a critical parameter determining product performance and applicability. Traditional amino silicone oils often employ high amine values (0.6–1.2 mmol/g) in pursuit of maximum softness. However, the resulting challenges limit their application in high-end textiles and environmentally sensitive sectors:
Yellowing Issues: Amino groups are susceptible to oxidation during high-temperature setting or prolonged storage, causing yellowing of white or light-colored fabrics, significantly compromising fabric quality.
Reduced Hydrophilicity: The hydrophobic film formed by high-amine-value silicone oil on fiber surfaces substantially diminishes fabric moisture absorption and perspiration transport, making it unsuitable for sportswear, underwear, and other products demanding comfort.
Stability and Compatibility Issues: High-amine-value products readily interact with dyes, optical brighteners, and other auxiliaries, leading to color changes or uneven finishing results.
Environmental and Safety Risks: Certain amino silicone oils may release free amines under specific conditions, posing potential risks to operators and the ecological environment.
Kefeng Silicone's Environmentally Friendly Low-Amine Value Amino Silicone Oil addresses these fundamental issues through molecular structure optimization, precisely controlling the amine value within the extremely low range of 0.1–0.3 mmol/g.
Reducing amine value is not simply a matter of decreasing amino functional group incorporation; it requires redesigning the silicone oil molecular architecture to ensure excellent softening performance despite lower amino content.
1. Optimized Amino Distribution and Side Chain Structure
Kefeng employs controlled polymerization technology to position amino groups at specific locations along the polysiloxane backbone rather than distributing them randomly. This structural design significantly enhances the directional adsorption efficiency of amino groups on fiber surfaces, achieving ideal adsorption and orientation with fewer amino groups. Additionally, by incorporating appropriate amounts of polyether or other functional side chains, any potential softness loss from reduced amine value is compensated, resulting in a “soft and smooth” combined hand feel.
2. Block Copolymerization Technology
As China's largest manufacturer of block silicone oil, Kefeng applies its mature block copolymerization technology to the development of low-amine-value amino silicone oil. By copolymerizing polysiloxane soft segments with amino-polyether hard segments, a stable microphase-separated structure is formed. This structure not only provides excellent emulsion stability but also creates a uniform, continuous elastic film on fiber surfaces, achieving high softness and smoothness even at low amine values.
3. End-Capping and Stability Enhancement
Appropriate chemical end-capping of amino terminals reduces the reactivity of amino groups, effectively suppressing yellowing tendencies. Furthermore, end-capped products maintain excellent emulsion stability across a wide pH range, minimizing incompatibility risks with other chemicals used in textile processing.
Kefeng Silicone integrates environmental concepts throughout product development and manufacturing. The Environmentally Friendly Low-Amine Value Amino Silicone Oil reflects green chemistry principles across multiple dimensions:
Environmental Aspect | Implementation Method | Application Value |
|---|---|---|
Low Amine Residue | Amine value ≤ 0.3 mmol/g; extremely low free amine content | Compliant with Oeko-Tex Standard 100 and other environmental standards |
APEO-Free | No alkylphenol ethoxylate emulsifiers used | Meets environmental entry requirements for textile markets in Europe and America |
Readily Biodegradable | Molecular design considers biodegradability | Reduces wastewater treatment burden; lowers environmental footprint |
Low VOC | High-solid-content formulations minimize volatile organic compound emissions | Improves working environment; aligns with cleaner production requirements |
The Environmentally Friendly Low-Amine Value Amino Silicone Oil demonstrates comprehensive performance advantages across various fiber types and fabric constructions:
1. Excellent Whiteness Retention
After high-temperature setting (180°C × 30 seconds), white fabrics treated with this product show a decrease in whiteness value (CIE Whiteness) of less than 2 points—significantly lower than the 5–8 point decrease observed with traditional high-amine-value silicone oils. This characteristic makes the product particularly suitable for softening finishing of high-end bleached fabrics, light-colored knitted goods, and infant apparel.
2. Superior Hydrophilicity Recovery
The low-amine-value design significantly reduces shielding of hydrophilic groups on fiber surfaces. Treated cotton fabrics achieve wicking heights of 8–12 cm/30 minutes, meeting the basic requirements for moisture-wicking fabrics. This property is especially important for product categories with high demands for water absorption and breathability, such as activewear, underwear, and towels.
3. Precisely Controllable Softness Profile
By adjusting the density of amino group distribution and the ratio of polyether segments, Kefeng offers multiple product variants ranging from “smoothness-dominant” to “fluffiness-dominant” profiles. This enables tailored hand feel performance across different fiber types (cotton, linen, silk, wool, and various synthetic fibers and their blends) and end-use requirements.
4. Excellent Compatibility Stability
The product exhibits good compatibility with optical brighteners, fixing agents, resin finishing agents, and other textile auxiliaries, allowing use in one-bath finishing processes that simplify workflow. Emulsions remain stable in hard water, electrolytes, and across a wide pH range—without demulsification or oil separation—reducing equipment cleaning frequency.
Zhejiang Kefeng Silicone Co., Ltd. was established in 2002 with a registered capital of 60 million RMB. The company operates three manufacturing bases, one of which is located in the Quzhou Green Gathering Area—a national-level chemical industrial park. Recognized as one of the “Top 20 Enterprises in Comprehensive Strength for Textile Printing and Dyeing Auxiliaries in China,” Kefeng currently achieves a monthly production capacity of 1,000 tons of crude block silicone oil, positioning it as the largest manufacturer in this field in China.
The company maintains a comprehensive quality control system covering the entire process from raw material polymerization and emulsification formulation to finished product testing. Each batch of the Environmentally Friendly Low-Amine Value Amino Silicone Oil undergoes rigorous testing for amine value, viscosity, solid content, emulsion stability, yellowing index, and application performance, ensuring consistent and stable product quality.
Kefeng's technical team provides comprehensive customer support:
Application Process Optimization: Recommends optimal usage levels (typically 1–4% o.w.f. for exhaust processes, 10–40 g/L for pad processes) and process parameters based on fabric type, equipment conditions, and desired hand feel.
Customized Development: Offers product customization services for specific fiber types, particular hand feel requirements, or specialized environmental certification needs.
Problem Diagnosis: Assists in resolving application issues such as yellowing, roll sticking, or insufficient hydrophilicity encountered during processing.
Zhejiang Kefeng Silicone Co., Ltd. delivers its Environmentally Friendly Low-Amine Value Amino Silicone Oil as a product that integrates over two decades of silicone manufacturing expertise with green chemistry principles. By achieving a high degree of balance among softening performance, whiteness retention, and environmental safety through an extremely low amine value, this product provides textile processing enterprises with a high-performance softener option aligned with sustainable development trends.
For detailed technical specifications, sample testing, or application guidance, please contact the Kefeng Silicone sales and technical team via the company website.
