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1. Introduction
Textile materials (natural and synthetic) used to be coloured for value addition, look and
desire of the customers. Anciently, this purpose of colouring textile was initiated using
colours of natural source, untill synthetic colours/dyes were invented and commercialized.
For ready availability of pure synthetic dyes of different types/classes and its cost
advantages, most of textile dyers/ manufacturers shifted towards use of synthetic colourant.
Almost all the synthetic colourants being synthesized from petrochemical sources through
hazardous chemical processes poses threat towards its eco-friendliness.
Hence, worldwide, growing consciousness about organic value of eco-friendly products
has generated renewed interest of consumers towards use of textiles (preferably natural
fibre product) dyed with eco-friendly natural dyes. Natural dyes are known for their use
in colouring of food substrate, leather as well as natural fibres like wool, silk and cotton as
major areas of application since pre-historic times. Although this ancient art of dyeing
textiles with natural dyes withstood the ravages of time, but due to the wide availability
of synthetic dyes at an economical price, a rapid decline in natural dyeing continued.
However, even after a century, the uses of natural dyes never erode completely and
they are being still used in different places of the world. Thus, natural dyeing of different
textiles and leathers has been continued mainly in the decentralized sector for specialty
products besides the use of synthetic dyes in the large scale sector for general
textiles/apparels.
Recently, most of the commercial dyers and textile export houses have started re-looking to
the maximum possibilities of using natural dyes for dyeing and printing of different textiles
for targeting niche market. Natural dyes produce very uncommon, soothing and soft
shades as compared to synthetic dyes. On the other hand, synthetic dyes, which are widely
available at an economical price and produce a wide variety of colours, sometimes causes
skin allergy and other harmfulness to human body, produces toxicity/chemical hazards
during its synthesis, releases undesirable/hazardous/toxic chemicals etc.
For successful commercial use of natural dyes for any particular fibres, the appropriate and
standardized techniques for dyeing for that particular fibre-natural dye system need to be
adopted. Therefore to obtain newer shade with acceptable colour fastness behaviour and
reproducible colour yield, appropriate scientific dyeing techniques/procedures are to be
derived. Thus, relevant scientific studies and its output on standardization of dyeing
30 Natural Dyes
methods, dyeing process variables, dyeing kinetics and test of compatibility of selective
natural dyes have become very important, however the information on which is insufficient.
That is why, this chapter is very much relevant to the current need of the textile dyers. An
attempt has been made here to give scientific overview on dyeing of textiles with natural
dyes and related issues.
ix. Some of its constituents are anti-allergens, hence prove safe for skin contact and are
mostly non-hazardous to human health.
x. Some of the natural dyes are enhanced with age, while synthetic dyes fade with time.
xi. Natural dyes bleed but do not stain other fabrics, turmeric being an exception.
xii. Natural dyes are usually moth proof and can replace synthetic dyes in kids garments
and food-stuffs for safety.
Despite these advantages, natural dyes do carry some inherent disadvantages, which are
responsible for the decline of this ancient art of dyeing textiles.
e. Natural dyes can also be classified on the basis of their chemical constitution (Dedhia,
1998).
i. Indigoid dyes: Indigo and tyrian purple are the most common examples of this
class. Another blue dye, woad also possesses indigo as the main dyeing
component.
ii. Anthraquinone dyes: Almost all the red natural dyes are based on the
anthraquinoid structure having both plant and mineral origin. Madder, lacs,
kermes, cochineal are some of the dyes possess this type of structure. These are
generally mordant dyes.
iii. Alphanaphthoquinones: Typical example of this class is lawsone (henna),
cultivated mainly in India and Egypt. Another similar dye is juglone, obtained
from the shells of unripe walnuts. These dyes are generally disperse dyes and give
shades of orange.
iv. Flavonoids, which yield yellow dyes can be classified under flavones, isoflavones,
aurones and chalcones. Flavones are colourless organic compounds. Most of the
natural yellows are derivatives of hydroxyl and methoxy substituted flavones and
isoflavones. Common example is weld (containing luteolin pigment) giving
brilliant and fast colours on both wool and silk.
v. Di-hydropyrans: Closely related in chemical structure to the flavones are
substituted di- hydropyrans, viz. haematin and its leuco form, haematoxylin. These
are important natural dyes for dark shades on silk, wool and cotton. Logwood,
brazil wood and sappan-wood are the common example.
vi. Anthocyanidins: The naturally occurring member of this class includes carajurin, a
direct orange dye for wool and cotton. It is obtained from the leaves of bignonia
chica.
vii. Carotenoids: The class name carotene is derived from the orange pigment found in
carrots. In these, the colour is due to the presence of long conjugated double bonds.
f. Another method of classifying natural dye is on the basis of the method of application
(Gulrajani & Gupta, 1992).
i. Mordant dyes are dyestuffs which require a mordant in their application as they
have no affinity for the fiber being dyed. A mordant dye should have electron
donating groups capable of forming a complex with the transition metal salt, e.g.,
madder, fustic, persian, berries, kermes, cochineal etc.
ii. Vat dyes are water insoluble dyes which are first converted to their water soluble
form (reducing with Na- hydrosulphite and then solubilising it with alkali) and
then applied to the fibres. The true colour is produced only on oxidation followed
by treatment with a hot soap solution, e.g., indigo.
iii. Direct dyes are those dyes that have tremendous affinity for the cellulosic fibres.
They are dyed from a boiling dye bath. Turmeric, harda, pomegranate rind etc. are
the few of the direct natural dyes.
iv. Acid dyes are applied from an acidic medium. The dye molecules have either
sulphonic or carboxylic group (s) which can form an electrovalent bond with amino
groups of wool and silk. An after treatment with tannic acid known as back
tanning improves the fastness of these type of dyes, e.g., saffron.
v. Disperse dye has a relatively low molecular mass, low solubility and no strong
solubilizing groups. Disperse dyes can be applied on to hydrophobic synthetic fibre
from neutral to mildly acidic pH. They can also be applied to silk and wool. These
34 Natural Dyes
dyes can be post-mordanted with chromium, copper and tin salts, e.g., lawsone and
many other flavone and anthroquinone dyes.
vi. Basic or cationic dyes on ionization give coloured cations and form an electrovalent
bond with the –COOH group of wool and silk. These dyes are applied from neutral
to mildly acidic pH. These dyes have poor light fastness, e.g., berberine.
Many scientists have reported the optimized process of extraction of natural dyes from
source. Colour from leaves of eucalyptus hybrid, seeds of cassia tora and grewia optiva are
extracted by using aqueous medium under varying conditions (Dayal & Dobhal, 2001).
Natural dyes are extracted from biomass products namely cutch, ratanjot, madder (Khan et
al, 2006) and from hinjal, jujube bark (Maulik & Pradhan, 2005) in aqueous medium. An
attempt has been made to extract natural dye from the coffee-seed for its application in
dyeing textiles like cotton and silk (Teli & Paul, 2006). Grey jute fabric is dyed with extracts
from deodar leaf (Pan et al, 2003) jackfruit wood and eucalyptus leaf by soaking it soft water
and boiling it for 4 hours separately. Extraction (Verma & Gupta, 1995) of natural dyes is
also reported from overnight soaked wattle bark in distilled water followed by boiled it in
pressure vessel and filtered it to obtain a residual dye powder of about 15 to 20 % (w/w) of
the bark. Colours are extracted from marie gold and chrysanthemum flowers by boiling the
dry petals with acidified or salt water and reported it to be the best (Deo & Paul, 2000;
Sarkar et al 2005 & 2006; Saxena et al, 2001). Natural colour extraction process has also been
optimized in aqueous media for various source natural dye materials as follows (Konar,
2011):
Pomegranate Rind: Pre-cut and dried rind is initially crushed to powder form and then
it is extracted in water using an optimized condition of extractions using MLR- 1:20,
temperature -90°C and time - 45 min and then it is filtered to obtain approximately 40%
(w/w) clear extract of coloured aqueous solution of pomegranate rind having pH 11.
Mariegold (Genda): Dried petal of mariegold is initially crushed to powder form and
then extracted in water using an optimized condition of extraction using MLR 1:20 at
80°C for 45 min at pH 11 and then it is filtered to obtain approximately 40% (w/w)
coloured aqueous extract of mariegold.
Babool (Babla): Sun- dried chips (pre-cut) of babool bark is initially crushed to powder
form and then it is extracted in water using an optimized condition of extractions, by
boiling in water at 100°C for 120min. and using MLR 1:20 and then it is filtered to
obtain 40% (w/w) clear extract of coloured aqueous solution of babool having pH 11.
Catechu (Khayer): Pre-dried powder of catechu is initially crushed to powder form and
then extracted in aqueous medium using an optimized condition of extractions by
heating in water bath at 90°C having MLR 1:20 and then it is filtered to obtain 40%
(w/w) extract of coloured aqueous solution of catechu having pH 12.
Jack fruit wood: Pre-cut and dried chips of jack fruit wood is initially crushed to
powder form and then colour is extracted in water using an optimized conditions of
extractions by boiling in water at 100°C for 30 minutes and using ML ratio (MLR) 1:10
and then it is filtered to obtain 40% (w/w) clear extract of coloured aqueous solution of
jack fruit wood having pH 11.
Red sandal wood: Dried pre-cut chips are crushed to powder form and colour is
extracted under optimized conditions by heating it in water at 80°C for 90 minutes at
pH 4.5 and MLR 1:20.
source natural dye material. With increasing public interest in natural products, SFE may
become a standard extraction technique for source natural dye material and other herbs and
food items. Supercritical fluid extraction using carbon dioxide as a solvent has provided an
excellent alternative to the use of chemical solvents. Over the past three decades,
supercritical CO2 has been used for the extraction and isolation of valuable compounds from
natural products.
Supercritical fluids are utilized to extract and purify natural colourant from eucalyptus bark
(Vankar et al, 2001). Extraction of dye from food is best achieved with ethanol/oxalic acid.
The comparative behaviour of other red food dyes is also studied and a process is
developed for the extraction of natural dye from the leaves of teak plant is carried out using
aqueous methanol (Nanda et al, 2001). A brick red shade from dyeing for silk/wool using
the isolated dye in presence of different mordants is achieved. Attempts (Bhattacharya, 2002;
Patel & Agarwal, 2001) has been made to standardize colourant derived from arjun bark,
babool bark and pomegranate rind. Extraction (Agarwal et al 1992; Singh & Kaur, 2006) of
well grounded henna leaves, directly in a solvent assisted dyeing process, employing
organic solvent:water (1:9) as the dyeing medium is studied and superior dyeing properties
are obtained, when applied to polyester. Natural dye (Raja & Kala, 2005) is obtained from
the grape skin waste by using soxhlet extractor, and latter on distilled it under vacuum to
obtain the concentrated dye solution. Colourant/dye is extracted by using a reflux
condenser; source dye material is refluxed for 1 hour and filtered it to yield natural
colourant (Eom et al, 2001).
For enzyme assisted extraction process (Tiwari et al 2010) single or mixed enzyme (e.g.
pectinase : cellulase, 2:1) is sprayed on source material and left for overnight for better
soaking. This material is then taken into 500 ml conical flask with 250 ml water of pH 10 and
shaken in orbital shaker at 150 rpm for 40-80 minutes at optimum temperature. The
extraction solution is ready for dyeing textile material or can be filtered and drying as ready
purified dye material for further use.
220, 280 and 530 nm as per recent study (Mathur et al, 2001). The visible spectra of ratanjot
(Gulrajani et al, 1999) at acidic pH showed maximum absorption around 520-525 nm, but
under alkaline pH there is a shift to 570 nm and another peak at 610-615 nm and red sandal
wood shows a strong absorption peak at 288 nm , the maximum absorption at 504 and 474
nm at pH 10 in methanol solution (Gulrajani et al, 2003). Gomphrena globosa (Sankar &
Vankar, 2005) flower colourant shows one major peak at 533 nm. The dye does not show
much difference in the visible spectrum at pH 4 and 7. Absorption for dyes extracted from
mimusops elengi and terminalia arjun are reported that depending on the concentrations of
dyes in the dye-bath, the dye absorbtion on the fibre varies from 21.94 % to 27.46 % and 5.18
% to 10.78% respectively (Bhuyan et al, 2004). The colour components isolated from most of
the barks contain flavonoid moiety. Extraction, spectroscopic and colouring potential
studies of the dye in ginger rhizome (zingiber officinale) is studied and reported (Popoola et
al, 1995) that the dye is soluble in hydroxyl organic solvents and gives one homogenous
component of Rf value of 0.86 on chromatographic separation having wavelength of
maximum absorption at 420 nm. Aqueous extract of different source natural dyes including
red sandal wood, manjistha, tesu, cutch etc. have been characterized by UV-vis spectra to
optimize the extraction conditions.
effect. Therefore, selection of mordanting metal salt and its purity are important criteria to
produce eco-friendly natural dyed textiles. Attempts (Mondhe & Rao, 1993a & 1993b) has
been made to prepare azo-alkyd dyes by the reduction of nitro alkyds, followed by
diazotization of aminoalkyds and coupling with different phenolic compounds present in
jatropha curcas seed oil confirmed by using IR spectra.
7. Types of mordants
Limitation on colour yield and poor fastness properties prompted a search for ideal
mordants, the chemicals which increase natural dye uptake by textile fibres. Different types
of mordants yield different colours even for the same natural dye. Therefore, final colour,
their brilliance and colour fastness properties are not only dependant on the dye itself but
are also determined by varying concentration and skillful manipulation of the mordants.
Thus, a mordant is more important than the dye itself. Moreover, the ideal mordant for bulk
use should produce appreciable colour yield in practicable dyeing conditions at low cost,
without seriously affecting physical properties of fibre or fastness properties of the dyes.
Also, It should not cause any noxious effect during processing and the dyed textile material
should not have any carcinogenic effect during use. Mordants can be classified into the
following categories:
7.2 Tannins
The term ‘tanning agent’ is given initially to those water-soluble cellulosic materials that
predicates gelatin from solution. But all gelatin precipitation did not identified as tanning
agent. Tannins are polyphenolic compounds having capacity of gelling under certain
conditions. (a) It may be hydroysable pyrogallol tannins exemplified by ‘tannic acid’, by
Chinese or Turkish gallotannins (galls) and by Sicilain and Stagshorn sumac, (b)
hydroysable ellagitannins that give ellagic acid or similar acids on hydrolysis, exemplified
by valonea, chestnut, and (c) condensed or catechol tannins that contain little or no
carbohydrates and are converted to acids to insoluble amorphous polymers. Among the
tannins, myrobalan (harda) and galls/sumach are most important.
There is study (Dayal et al, 2006) for effect of copper sulphate and potassium dichromate on
silk, wool and cotton fibre and reported their effects on colour fastness properties. The wool
treated with metal ions such as Al(III), Cr (VI), Cu (II), Fe (II), Sn (II) and rare earths such as
La (III), Sm (III) are used for beet sugar colourant, it can withstand the requirement of BIS
fastness standards. Optimization (Agarwal et al, 1993) of the various concentrations of
mordant are reported for shades can be produced by 0.15% of alum, 0.08% copper sulphate
and stannous chloride, 0.04% ferrous sulphate and 0.06% potassium dichromate on
mulberry silk fabric. Extraction of natural dye from the leaves of teak plant by using
aqueous methonal produced brick red shade on dyeing of silk/ wool using the isolated dye
in presence of different mordants as it is reported (Nanda et al, 2001). Irrespective of
mordanting methods, silk (Mahale et al, 2003) treated with potash alum shows increase in
colour when subject to sunlight test and those treated with potassium dichromate, copper
sulphate and ferrous sulphate shows excellent to good fastness properties. Wool yarns
dyed with turmeric (Mathur & Gupta, 2003) when subject to different concentration of
natural mordant and chromium under identical mordanting conditions, shows similar
colour fastness. Application of tulsi leave extract on textiles with or without using metallic
salts produces pale to dark green and cream to brown shades with adequate fastness
(Patel et al, 2002). Silk (Maulik & Pal, 2005) fabric being mordanted with magnesium
sulphate produces lower depth of shade, whereas copper sulphate produces highest
depth. It is reported (Bhattacharya & Shah, 2000) that the colour depth of dyeing textiles
can be improved by using different metal salt as mordants. Pre-mordanting and post-
mordanting (Das et al, 2005 & 2006) employing ferrous sulphate and aluminium sulphate
improve the colour uptake, light fastness and colour retention on repeated washing for
application of many natural dyes on textiles. The use of such mordants, however, does not
improve wash fastness property of textile substrate dyed with pomegranate. Dyeing of
wool (Chan et al, 2000) with four varieties of tea employing different mordant shows that
coloured protein fibres became blackish, when ferrous sulphate is employed as
mordanting agent. The effect of mordants on yellow dyes such as kapila, onion, tesu, and
dolu are also reported.
Tin, as mordant imparts good wash fastness to cotton dyed with golden rods; chrome for
mariegold dyeing and alum and tin for dyeing with onion skins (Vastard et al, 1999).
Turmeric dye (Devi et al, 1999) can be applied for dyeing cotton fabric by using different
mordants like tannic acid, alum, ferrous sulphate, stannous chloride and potassium
dichromate to obtain various shades of colour. The use of gluconic acid as a ligand for
complexing iron (II) salts and for vat dyeing of cotton has been studied. It is reported
(Chavan & Chakraborty, 2001) for use of iron (II) salts complexed with ligands as tartaric
acid and citric acid for the reduction of indigo at room temperature and subsequent cotton
dyeing. Wash fastness (Kumar & Bharti, 1998) and light fastness (Sudhakar et al, 2006) can
be increased by the use of metal salts or tannic acid on cotton fabrics. Cotton yarns treated
with acalypha (Mahale, 2002) dye after pre-mordanted with potash alum, potassium
dichromate, copper sulphate and ferrous sulphate shows excellent fastness rating.
Pre-mordanting route favours dyeing of jute (Samanta et al, 2003) fabric with direct type of
natural dyes, when aluminium sulphate is used as a mordant, while simultaneous
mordanting route gives better results for madder on cotton with the same mordant. It has
also been proposed that alum (Potsch 1999) and aluminium sulphate should be used as
mordants in dyeing with natural dyes, as their environmental toxicity is almost nil. The
effects of different natural and chemical mordants like aluminium sulphate, tartaric acid and
Dyeing of Textiles with Natural Dyes 43
cetrimide on colour yield for bleached jute fabric are studied and reported (Samanta et al,
2006 & 2007). As the mordant concentration and dye concentration is increased, there is
improvement in the light fastness by ½ to 1 grades. Different type of mordant and method
of mordanting significantly affected the rate and extent of photofading. The use of copper or
ferrous sulphate give high resistance to fading, whereas stannous chloride or alum did not.
On the other hand, light fastness is improved when post-mordanting is conducted with
copper or ferrous ion, but pre-mordanting is superior in the case of stannous chloride
or alum as investigated and reported (Gupta et al, 2004). Harda-tartaric acid combination
is found to be the best followed by tannic acid-harda and tartaric acid–tannic acid
combinations. Synergistic effect of mordant is observed while using the binary combinations
of mordants. Meta-mordanting gives the best results for harda-tartaric acid and tartaric acid-
tannic acid combinations, while pre-mordanting gives the best results for tartaric acid-harda
combination as studied (Deo & Paul, 2000a & 2000b). The colour fastness properties of
goldendrop root dyed on wool (Bains et al, 2005) are studied using combinations of
mordants such as alum: chrome, alum: copper sulphate, alum: ferrous sulphate, chrome:
copper sulphate, chrome: ferrous sulphate and copper sulphate : ferrous sulphate in ratio of
1:3, 1:1 and 3:1. Studies are available for the effects of combination of mordant on colour
fastness properties of cotton dyed with peach (Bains et al, 2003). There are lots of literatures
available for mordanting prior to normal dyeing and the effects of mordants on colour
fastness properties, shade development and other physical properties when applied singly
(Fatima & Paul, 2005; Deo & Paul, 2003) or in combination (Yu et al, 2005) on cellulosic,
protenic and synthetic fibres. An effective double pre-mordanting system is recommended
(Samanta et al, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011) for dyeing jute and cotton fabric using harda (as
mordant assistant cum catcher) and aluminium sulphate (metallic mordant) without
intermediate drying after mordanting, facilitating wet on wet dyeing in jigger. The
myrobolan (harda) powder is soaked in water (1:10 volume) for overnight (12h) at room
temperature to obtain the swelled myrobolan gel. This gel is then mixed with a known
volume of water and heated at 80ºC for 30 min. The solution is then cooled and filtered in a
60 mesh nylon cloth and the filtrate is used as final harda solution (10-40%) for 1st
mordanting, using MLR of 1:20 (for dyed in bath) or 1:5 (for jigger). Pre-wetted conventional
H2O2 bleached jute and cotton fabrics are separately treated with the harda solution in
separate bath initially at 40-50ºC and then the temperature is raised to 80ºC. The mordanting
is continued for 30 min. After the harda mordanting, fabric samples may be subjected to
immediate wet on wet dyeing or may be dried in air without washing for storing purpose.
Second mordanting is carried out using 10-40% of any one of the chemical mordants, (e.g.,
aluminium sulphate, potash alum, ferrous sulphate, stannous chloride and EDTA) at 80°C
for 30 min using ML ratio of 1:20 (for dyed in bath) or 1:5 (for jigger). After the mordanting,
the fabric samples may be finally dried in air without washing for storing purpose to make
them ready for subsequent natural dyeing or may be subjected to immediate wet on wet
dyeing without drying.
form metal complexes with the fibres and the dyes. After mordanting, the metal salts
anchoring to the fibres, attracts the dye/organic pigment molecules to be anchored to the
fibres and finally creates the bridging link between the dye molecules and the fibre by
forming coordinating complexes. Aluminium sulphate or other metallic mordants anchored
to any fibre, chemically combine with certain mordantable functional groups present in the
natural dyes and bound by coordinated/covelent bonds or hydrogen bonds and other
interactional forces as shown below:
c. Steaming– Then the cloth is steamed for one night in an ordinary Khumb or
washerman’s steaming pot
d. Steeping in alkaline lye- The cloth is soaked in a mixture of water, oil [castor oil or
gingili oil], and alkali (sodium carbonate or soda known as sajikar or papadkhar).
e. Rinsing- Cloth is then again rinsed thoroughly and spread out to dry.
f. The last two processes are repeated for several days, the details varied in different
localities, but generally from 3 to 7 days. In specific case, the cloth is kept in the solution
for sometimes, and then taken out, rinsed and dried twice daily.
g. Washing- The cloth is then finally washed in clean water, but not so thoroughly as to
remove the whole of the oil, and finally dried in air under the sun.
h. Galling-The cloth is then soaked in a solution of harda (haritaki) or myrobolan
(Terminala chebula) extracts. Behda or bahedas (terminala belerica) is also used instead
of harda. The period during which the cloth is kept in the harda extract varied in
different places but it is continued until the fabric assume a yellowish tint.
i. Drying- The cloth is spread or wrung out for drying.
j. Mordanting- The cloth is then pre-mordanted by dipping it in a solution of potash alum
and water. In some places, gum or a paste of tamarind seed (tamarind kernel powder) is
added to make it sticky. In some parts of kutch, fuller’s earth is also used by some
dyers. The cloth is thus ready for subsequent dyeing.
k. Dyeing- For dyeing the cloth is generally boiled with an aqueous extracted solution of
the natural dye until all the colouring matter is absorbed by the cloth.
l. Further dunging- In some places, the cloth is further soaked in dung for one night and
batched before final wash and dry.
m. Drying- The dyed fabric is next washed and spread out to dry gradually in air under
the sun. Water is sprinkled at certain interval over the cloth, so as to brighten the
colour, this process is continued for 2-4 days.
n. Finishing- If required, the cloth is finally starched by dipping it in a paste of rice or
wheat flour, or in a solution of babool gum and then dried.
However, now a days, many small scale dyers/export oriented units follow much shorter
economical and standard recipe based optimized processes for natural dyeing of cotton
yarns/fabrics. Before natural dyeing usual method of desizing (acid bath), scouring (soap &
soda) and H2O2 bleaching are followed. Well prepared cotton textiles are then mordanted
(single or double mordanting using harda and aluminium sulphate individually or in
combination) before subjecting to dyeing with aqueous extract of selective natural dyes at
standardized condition of process variables of dyeing. For e.g., the dyeing conditions may
be as follows : dyeing time, 30 -120 minutes (depending on shades); dyeing temperature, 70-
100°C; material to liquor ratio, 1:20 -1:30; concentration of natural dye, 10-50% (owm) or
more; common salt concentration, 5-20g/L and pH, 10-12. In each case after the dyeing is
over, the dyed samples are repeatedly washed with hot and cold water and then finally, the
dyed samples are subjected to soaping with 2g/L soap solution at 60 C for 15 min, followed
by repeated water wash and line dried. For improving its wash fastness, treatment with eco-
friendly cationic dye fixing agent is advisable.
9.1.2 Dyeing process for natural colouration of wool and silk fibre
Wool and silk are natural protein fibres and are available in wide variety having varied
qualities. Both the fibres has complex chemical structure and very much susceptible to alkali
attack (at pH >9). Hence, dyeing of these fibres with natural colours needs special care to
46 Natural Dyes
avoid fibre damage by alkaline pH. Moreover, both wool and silk contain both amino and
carboxylic functional groups. While, unlike silk, wool contains equal number of amino and
carboxylic groups held together as salt linkages which bridge the main peptide chains.
Therefore, in aqueous solution, wool carries no net charge. However, silk fibre has a slightly
cationic character with the isoelectric point at about pH 5.0. Also, unlike wool fibre, silk is
less sensitive to temperature. Therefore, selection of mordants, conditions of mordanting,
pH and other conditions for dyeing, necessary cares are to be taken for colouration of these
textile fibres for mordanting and application of natural dyes.
Wool and silk fibre based textiles can be dyed with different natural colours mostly through
pre-mordanting or post mordanting system. Mordanting is done with tannin rich natural
source chemicals like harda, gall nut etc and/or metal salts like, alum, aluminium sulphate,
ferrous sulphate etc. Depending on shade depth requirement, mordant and dye
concentration are to be determined. Dyeing conditions for a particular fibre-mordant–dye
system need to be optimized by study of dyeing process variables before bulk dyeing.
In pre-mordanting system, these animal fibre based textiles are selectively mordanted
(single or sequential double mordanted) with 5-20% (owm) mordant at 80-90°C for about 30-
40 minutes having ML ratio 1:5-1:20 and can be taken for subsequent dyeing generally
without washing. The pre-mordanted samples are entered in the dye bath (generally acidic
dye bath) at 50-60°C and ML ratio 1:20, raise temperature upto the optimum dyeing
temperature (may be 90°C) and dyeing is then continued for further 30 to 40 minutes
followed by thorough rinsing, soaping and washing. However, in post mordanting system
of applying natural colour on wool and silk textiles, dyeing is done at optimum dyeing
condition and the dyed samples are dip into a mordant bath containing mainly 1-2% metal
salt (owm) for true colour development followed by rinsing, soaping and thorough
washing.
9.1.3 Dyeing process for natural colouration of jute and other lignocellulosic fibres
Application of natural colours on ligno-cellulosic fibres through double pre-mordanting
system is found to be the best method, e.g., 10-20% harda treatment followed by 10-20%
alum treatment or aluminium sulphate treatment is best suited mordanting system for
subsequent dyeing of lingo-cellulosic fibre based textiles with different natural
colours/dyes. Conventionally bleached and double pre-mordanted jute and linen textiles
without wash, is dyed with tesu, madder, catechu, pomegranate rind, babool, jackfruit
wood, haldi, marie gold, red sandal wood etc individually and in mixtures. Most of the
above said natural dyes are applied in alkaline pH like 11-12 at higher temperature like 80-
90°C having ML ratio 1:20 for 60 to 90 minutes. After dyeing, the dyed samples are washed
and soaping is carried out at 60°C for 15 minutes. For getting higher fastness to wash and
light, the samples can be further treated with 2% cationic dye fixing agents and/or 1%
benztriazole.
results an overall best dyeing performance in terms of colour strength and fastness
properties provided the natural colourants are stable at that high temperature employed for
dyeing. Also energy consumption is higher in case of HT-HP dyeing method than exhaust
method as well as cold-pad-batch method of dyeing.
Reports are available (Lokhande et al, 1998; Lokhande and Dorugade, 1999) for nylon is dyed
with three different natural dyes using various mordants by two different techniques (open
bath and high temperature high pressure dyeing methods), of which HT-HP dyeing is found
better as compared to open bath. Application of babool bark extract on nylon substrate by
cold-pad-batch and pad-dry-steam technique of dyeing can be considered as an effective eco-
option and can be commercialized. HT-HP method is used for dyeing polyester fibre with
pomegranate rind, catechu, nova red and turmeric (Bhattacharya and Lohiya, 2002).
opportunities to develop suitable dyes for this medium. The coloration is conducted in a
stainless steel high pressure apparatus. Process and equipment are developed for textile
dyeing in supercritical carbon dioxide (Kraan, 2007). A technical-scale, 100-L dyeing
machine is designed and built for polyester beam dyeing in scCO2 at 300 bar.
temperature in all cases. ∆H and ∆S values are positive for all the dyeings. The apparent
diffusion coefficient is highest for wool and lowest for silk. For investigation of the
conditions of extraction and application of african mariegold on silk yarn, optimum
conditions are found to be 60 minutes dye extraction time, 30 minutes mordanting, 30
minutes dyeing using mixtures of 5% potash alum, 1% potassium dichromate and 1%
copper sulphate as mordants (Mahale et al, 1999). Studies of dyeing absorption isotherm,
heat of dyeing, free energy and entropy of dyeing for red sandal wood (Samanta et al, 2006)
and jackfruit wood (Samanta & Agarwal, 2008) reveals that both the dyeing process follows
a linear Nernst absorption isotherm. An adsorption and thermodynamic study of lac dyeing
on cotton pre-treated with chitosan showed Langmuir isotherm (Rattanaphani et al, 2007).
The colour can vary significantly for indigo dyeing on denim yarns as the result of the
variation of parameters (Kin et al, 2007).
closeness of the pattern of the two sets of curves (Konar, 2011). However, another easy
method of Relative Compatibility Rating (RCR) method (Samanta et al, 2009) has been
established based on differences between lowest and highest colour difference index (CDI)
values [CDI = (∆E X ∆H) / (∆C X MI)] for a binary mixture of natural dyes dyed in different
proportions with fixed shade % at standardized dyeing conditions.
equivalent to BS-8B Blue wool standards. The corresponding colors changes after exposure
to xenon arc lamp are also assessed in each case.
Turmeric, fustic and marigold dyes faded significantly more than any of the other yellow
dyes. However, use of tin and alum mordants resulted in significantly more fading than the
same for use of chrome, iron, or copper mordant. Thus the type of mordant is found to be is
more important than the dye itself in determining the light fastness of natural colored
textiles.
Natural dyes that may have been used in the traditional Scottish textile industry have been
described (Grierson, 1984) that the light fastness of such dyes on wool has been compared
with those of dyeing with ‘imported’ dyes to similar shades (Duff et al, 1985; Grierson et
al,1985), again using Microscal fading MBTF lamp.
Numerous attempts (Samanta et al, 2006, 2010 & 2011; Hofenk, 1983; Oda, 2001; Cristea &
Vilarem, 2006; Lee, 2001; Micheal & Zaher, 2005; Gupta, 2001) has been made to improve the
light fastness of different textiles fabric dyed with natural dyes which include the effects of
various additives on the photofading of carthamin in cellulose acetate film, critical
examination of fading process of natural dyes with a view to determining the original
colours of faded textile etc. The rate of photofading is remarkably suppressed in the
presence of nickel hydroxy-arylsulphonates, while the addition of UV absorbers afforded
little retardation in the rate of fading.
12.3 Rubfastness
Rub fastness of most of the natural dyes have been found to be moderate to good and dose
not require any after treatment. Jackfruit wood, manjistha, red sandal wood, babool,
52 Natural Dyes
mariegold etc have good rubfastness (Samanta et al, 2006; 2007; 2010 & 2011). Good rub
fastness is seen for mariegold on cotton, silk and wool (Sarkar et al, 2005; Sarkar, 2006).
Good rub fastness (dry and wet rubfastness) is reported for silk dyed with acalypha and
other natural dyes (Mahale et al, 1999; 2002 & 2003). Cutch and ratanjot shows moderate to
good dry rub fastness but the wet rub fastness is found to be average (Khan et al, 2003 &
2006).
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