Dyeability and Colorfastness of Knitted Fabrics with Natural Dye PinuxTM(Part I)

Abstract

Dyeability and colorfastness of the blended knits of cotton/rayon (40/60; C/R) and wool/tencel (10/90; W/T) are examined using the natural dyestuff () manufactured from Pinus radiata pine bark extract. In addition, pre-treatments (such as bleaching, mercerization and cationization) are performed to improve dyeability and colorfastness. The powder dyestuffs produced by Pinux Co., Ltd. are used as dyestuffs and their properties are examined for dyeing concentration (0.5-2% (owb)), dyeing time (30-120 minutes) and dyeing temperature (30-). Dyeability is evaluated with K/S value at 400nm, which is the maximum absorption wavelength for . The results show the dyeability of W/T sample containing protein fiber with is superior to all cellulose fiber C/R. A concentration of dyestuff greater than 1.5% (owb), dyeing time 120 minutes and dyeing temperature of are the most optimized conditions. It shows that the dyeability of C/R and W/T samples are high in the condition of an acid-dyeing bath and that dyeability highly declined in alkaline bath due to the instability of the proanthocyanidin pigment. After analyzing the effect of bleaching, mercerizing and cationizing (as pre-treatments on dyeability) it was concluded that the dyeability of the C/R sample was enhanced by mercerization but no significant effect by cationization. However, the simultaneous treatment of cationizing and dyeing resulted in far improved dyeability compared to dyeing after cationizing pre-treatment. As for the W/T sample, the effect of cationization was more prominent than the C/R sample. Colorfastness to color changes in the control W/T sample was higher than that of C/R`s level 1-2, and it increased to Level 2 when bleaching pre-treatment was given and when a simultaneous cationizing treatment was adopted to the dyeing process. Colorfastness to light in W/T control sample resulted in Level 3 and further increased to an excellent Level of 4 with bleaching and simultaneous cationizing during dyeing process.