METHOD FOR PRINTING OR DIP-DYEING CELLULOSE-CONTAINING FIBERMATERIAL

Textile cellulose material is printed or dyed with reactive dyes with the aid of foam. The foam is applied by applying to the cellulose material a foamed, aqueous prepartion which contains in addition to dye and fixing alkalis (1) a foam-forming agent (2) a homopolymer or copolymer of acrylamide or methacrylamide or preferably a graft polymer which is obtained from an addition product of an alkylene oxide, preferably propylene oxide, on an at least trihydric aliphatic alcohol, e.g. glycerol, and acrylamide or methacrylamide, and (3) the acid ester of a homopolymer of an ethylenically unsaturated aliphatic monocarboxylic or dicarboxylic acid and a polyethylene glycol, a terminal hydroxyl group of the diol having been etherified with an aliphatic monoalcohol having at least 4 carbon atoms, preferably stearyl alcohol, and the homopolymer having a molecular weight of 300 to 3,500. The cellulose material thus treated is then subjected to a heat treatment, for example steaming, to fix the dye. This very stable preparation produces without the use of thickenings, in particular alginates, a strong, level and crisp print which at the same time has an excellent handle.