Evaluating water-soluble soybean alkyd resins as printing binders

Alkyd resins are an important nonfood product obtained from soybeans, a major agricultural commodity in the mid-western United States. Utilizing resins and polymeric materials, such as alkyds, made from agricultural derivatives and byproducts will decrease our dependence on petrochemicals and increase the commercial benefits for farmers. A potential use for alkyds resins is in pigment printing, which requires the use of a resinous binder. This article evaluates the color yield, stiffness, and colorfastness properties of pigment print pastes prepared with a conventional acrylic binder and two water soluble soybean alkyd binders and applied to a polyester/cotton blend. The long-oil alkyd enhanced the color yield and provided stiffness and dry-cleaning fastness comparable to those with acrylic binder, but the fastness to laundering and crocking was appreciably less than that with the acrylic binder. Conversely, the short-oil alkyd resin provided fastness properties that were more similar to the acrylic binder prints and provided comparable color yield, but increased stiffness which might be improved by incorporating a softener into the print paste formulation.