Investigation of the effect of different mordant substances and nonionic surfactant on cotton fabrics dyed with eucalyptus leaf extract by using IR dyeing machine

Abstract

Present study, eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) leaves were used as natural dye raw material to dye cotton fabrics. It is aimed to examine the effect of different mordants and nonionic pretreatment on the dyeing of cotton fabrics with eucalyptus leaf. Iron(II) sulfate heptahydrate, copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate and aluminium sulfate octadecahydrate were used as mordant matter. Before dyeing process, nonionic surfactant treatment was applied to some of the cotton fabrics by using infrared type dyeing machine. The main purpose is to increase the color yield of cotton fabrics dyed with eucalyptus extract. Depending on the type of mordant or whether it is without mordant, yellowish-brown, blue and grayish tones were obtained in the fabrics color after dyeing process. According to the K/S values from spectrophotometer measurements, the nonionic surfactant treatment increased the color yield and darkened the colors by improving the dyeability of all of the dyed samples. While nonionic surfactant pretreatment did not have a negative effect on dry rubbing fastness, the effect of the pretreatment on wet rubbing fastness of the samples was not significant. The nonionic pretreatment significantly improved the washing fastness (change in color) of the samples which dyed with eucalyptus extract without using mordant.