The Latching Performance of Soy Wax/Beeswax Prints in Alkaline Dye Solution and Heated Water

Abstract

Presently the main resist materials or waxes used in the batik industry are made of a blend of beeswax, dammar, resin, paraffin, and microcrystalline wax. Increasing environmental concerns over textile wastewater have led to the search for ‘greener’ batik wax compositions for the batik industry. Thus, plant-based wax such as soy wax is seen to be a promising candidate to replace the use of petrol-based waxes such as paraffin and microcrystalline wax. In this study, an in-house design melt extrusion system was used to print various soy wax/beeswax blends onto the surface of cotton fabric. The effect of beeswax additions on soy wax was evaluated based on the mass loss (%) upon immersion in the following solutions: alkaline dye solution at room temperature and tap water at 100 °C for 30 min and 5 min respectively. The immersion process of the cotton fabric in the alkaline dye solution or mercerization resulted in a mass increment of approximately 4% due to the effect of water absorption by the natural cotton fiber. Further immersion of the fabrics in hot water showed decreasing mass loss trend from 10.3 to 5.1%. It was inferred from this result that additions of beeswax had improved the latching property and resilience of the soy wax blends. The results of this study established the potential of using soy wax/beeswax blends as sustainable alternative resist materials in the batik industry.