Proceedings of the 10

th
Asian Textile Conference ~ATC-10 ~ September 7-9, 2009 Ueda, Japan

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Dyeing behavior of cotton fabric with weld and madder natural dyeing plants

Aminoddin Haji , Hossein Barani

Islamic Azad University Birjand Branch , Birjand , Iran, AAHL58@yahoo.com

Abstract :
Today there is a great tendency to natural dyes because they are biofriendly and have less toxicity to the environment
and are safer to health. Many natural dyes have been used for dyeing protein fibers but very little dyes have the ability
to dye cotton fiber because of low affinity of cellulose to the natural dyes. In this study two natural dyes have been used
to dye cotton fabric together with three mordants namely alum, ferrous sulfate and copper sulfate. The effect of process
variables such as amount of mordant, dyeing temperature, time and amount of electrolyte on the color strength of dyed
fabric has been studied. The fastness properties of dyed samples have been evaluated and the best conditions for dyeing
cotton with madder and weld natural dyes have been mentioned.


Introduction

Cotton is one of the most important natural fibers and
is used extensively in textile industry alone or in blend
with synthetic fibers [1]. This fiber has great
characteristics such as good water and dye absorbency,
comfort and stability. Synthetic dyes such as direct,
vat, sulphur, azoic and reactive dyes can be used
simply to dye cotton fiber [1,2]. Today due to
environmental and health concerns, there is a great
tendency to natural dyes [1-6]. Natural dyes can be
used to dye protein fibers easily but there are several
problems in using them on cotton fiber, mainly low
affinity and fastness properties of natural dyes toward
cotton fiber. To overcome this drawback, several
studies have been carried out. P.S. Vankar etal have
used mineral and biomordants to improve dyeability of
cotton fiber with extract of rubia cardifia [2]. In
another research P.S. Vankar etal, have used
ultrasound energy to increase the absorption of rubia
cardifia extract to cotton fiber [3]. Pretreatment of
cotton with chitosan has beed used to increase the
affinity of cotton fiber for natural dyes [5]. In other
researches, anionic active compounds, cross linking
agents and enzymes have been used to improve the
dyeability of cotton with natural dyes [4,5,6]. In this
study three mordants have been used on cotton fiber
prior to dyeing and the effect of different mordants and
dyeing conditions on dyeability of cotton fiber have
been studied.

Experimental
Materials:
In this work scoured and bleached cotton fabric (142
g/m2) was supplied from Borujerd textile Company,
Iran. Before being used, the fabric was treated with a
solution containing 5 g/L non-ionic detergent at 95 C
for 30 minutes. Then the fabric was thoroughly washed
with water and air dried at room temperature.
Madder roots were first washed and dried and then
powdered. Weld flowers were dried and powdered. To
prepare the original solution of the dyes, each 100
gram of powder was added to 1 liter of distilled water
and boiled for 2 hours and then filtered. The
concentration of the resultant solution is 10% W/V. All
chemicals used were analytical grade reagents from
Merck.

Methods:
1- mordanting: the scoured cotton fabrics were
mordanted using different amounts of alum, copper
sulfate and ferrous sulfate mordants at 80 c and L:G=
30:1, for 45 minutes.
2- Dyeing: 100 cc of original dye solution was mixed
with 100 cc of distilled water for each 5 gram of cotton
(L:G= 40:1). The dyeing was started at 40c and the
temperature was raised to final temperature (60, 70, 80,
90 c) at the rate of 2c per minute. Then the samples
remained in that condition for appropriate time (45, 60,
90 minute), and then rinsed and air dried. All
mordanting and dyeing processes were carried out
using a laboratory dyeing machine made by Rissanj
co.-Iran.
3- Color measurements: the reflectance of dyed
samples and color coordinates CIE L*, a*, b* values
were measured on a Color-eye 7000A
spectrophotometer using illuminant D65 and
10standard observer. Color strength (K/S) of dyed
samples were calculated using kubelka-munk equation:
Equation 1: K/S= (1-R)/2R
Where R is the observed reflectance, K is the
absorption coefficient and S is the light scattering
coefficient.
4- Color fastness tests: color fastness to washing, light
and rubbing was measured according to: ISO 105-C01:
Proceedings of the 10
th
Asian Textile Conference ~ATC-10 ~ September 7-9, 2009 Ueda, Japan

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1989(E), ISO 105-B02: 1994(E), ISO 105-X12:
1993(E) respectively.
Results and Discussion

1- Effect of mordants
Table 1 shows the effect of three mordants on color
coordinates of samples dyed with weld. It is obvious
that the L* of the samples decreased as the amount of
mordants increased which means that the increase of
the amount of mordants has increased the exhaustion of
the dye from the dyebath.

Table 1: Effect of amount of mordants on color
coordinates of samples dyed with Weld
b* a* L* Amount of
mordant %
owf
Mordant
33.09 -4.67 79.94 1 Alum
36.45 -4.87 79.02 3 Alum
41.66 -5.18 78.34 5 Alum
22.47 2.88 50.02 1 Ferrous
sulfate
21.11 3.12 44.36 3 Ferrous
sulfate
20.80 3.55 41.41 5 Ferrous
sulfate
46.15 0.07 70.82 1 Copper
sulfate
46.14 0.01 68.23 3 Copper
sulfate
46.11 -0.50 66.98 5 Copper
sulfate
22.05 -4.65 81.75 - Without
mordant
Table 2 shows the effect of three mordants of color
coordinates of samples dyed with madder. This table
shows that the use of 1% owf of all mordants decreased
the L* of dyed samples but increasing of the mordant
amount from 1% to 5% increased the L* that means as
decrease in dye absorption. This may be due to
formation of complex between metal ions and the
alizarin dye present in extract of madder and prevent
the dye molecule to penetrate to the fiber.

Table 2: Effect of amount of mordants on color
coordinates of samples dyed with Madder
b* a* L* Amount of
mordant %
owf
Mordant
11.83 29.16 49.63 1 Alum
12.36 29.33 50.76 3 Alum
14.83 29.70 53.11 5 Alum
-2.80 7.33 31.18 1 Ferrous
sulfate
-2.41 7.30 32.25 3 Ferrous
sulfate
-1.92 7.25 35.86 5 Ferrous
sulfate
8.00 18.54 58.31 1 Copper
sulfate
7.12 17.01 61.03 3 Copper
sulfate
6.56 15.20 65.57 5 Copper
sulfate
5.91 17.70 59.32 - Without
mordant

2- effect of Sodium Sulfate
As shown in figures 3 and 4, increase in amount of
sodium sulfate decreased the L* of samples dyed with
all dyes and mordants. This is due to neutralization
effect of Na2SO4 on the negative surface charges of
cotton fiber.

Table 3: Effect of sodium sulfate on color coordinates
of samples dyed with Weld
Mordant Sodium
sulfate %
owf
L* a* b*
Alum 25 78.34 -5.18 41.66
Alum 20 78.83 -4.34 28.13
Alum 10 79.02 -4.81 24.95
Alum - 79.13 -4.44 28.45
Ferrous
sulfate
25 41.41 3.55 20..80
Ferrous
sulfate
20 48.52 0.62 19.12
Ferrous
sulfate
10 52.86 -0.10 16.43
Ferrous
sulfate
- 53.34 1.19 21.60
Copper
sulfate
25 66.98 -0.50 46.11
Copper
sulfate
20 67.25 -4.13 42.25
Copper
sulfate
10 68.59 -1.68 46.59
Copper
sulfate
- 69.55 -2.91 42.95

Table 4: Effect of sodium sulfate on color coordinates
of samples dyed with Madder
Mordant Sodium
sulfate %
owf
L* a* b*
Alum 25 51.27 29.48 33.84
Alum 20 52.11 29.70 33.52
Alum 10 52.42 30.14 33.19
Alum - 54.46 29.65 33.18
Ferrous
sulfate
25 30.02 7.25 7.50
Ferrous
sulfate
20 30.91 6.39 8.03
Ferrous
sulfate
10 31.87 5.79 7.33
Ferrous
sulfate
- 33.22 5.94 7.55
Copper 25 57.03 15.20 6.56
Proceedings of the 10
th
Asian Textile Conference ~ATC-10 ~ September 7-9, 2009 Ueda, Japan

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sulfate
Copper
sulfate
20 58.43 15.28 7.38
Copper
sulfate
10 59.22 15.28 6.77
Copper
sulfate
- 59.98 16.41 6.49

3- effect of time
Figure 1 shows that the color strength of all samples
dyed with weld and madder and different mordants
increased as the dyeing time increased. This is simply
due to more time for dye molecule to penetrate to the
fiber.
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.08
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time (min.)
K
/
S
Alum-weld
Copper Sulfate-weld
Ferrous Sulfate-weld
Alum-madder
Copper Sulfate-madder
Ferrous Sulfate-madder

Figure 1: Effect of dyeing time on color strength of
dyed samples with weld and madder and different
mordants

4- Effect of temperature
Figure 2 shows that the color strength of all samples
dyed with weld and madder and different mordants
increased as the dyeing temperature increased. When
the temperature increases the dye molecule gain more
kinetic energy and the fiber swells more and therefore
the dye absorption increases.
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.08
50 60 70 80 90 100
Temperature
K
/
S
Alum-weld
Copper Sulfate-weld
Ferrous Sulfate-weld
Alum-madder
Copper Sulfate-madder
Ferrous Sulfate-madder

Figure 2: Effect of dyeing temperature on color
strength of dyed samples with weld and madder and
different mordants

4-Fastness properties
Tables 5 and 6 show that all mordants have positive
effect on fastness properties of samples dyed with weld
and madder. This may be due to comples formation
between the dye molecules and metal ions in the cotton
fiber.

Table 5: Effect of mordanting on fastness properties of
samples dyed with weld
Light
fastness
Wash
fastness
Rub
fastness
Amount of
mordant %
owf
Mordant
4 2 3 1 Alum
4 2-3 3-4 3 Alum
4-5 3-4 4 5 Alum
4-5 2-3 2-3 1 Ferrous
sulfate
5 2-3 3 3 Ferrous
sulfate
5-6 3-4 4 5 Ferrous
sulfate
4 2-3 2-3 1 Copper
sulfate
4-5 3 3-4 3 Copper
sulfate
5-6 4 4 5 Copper
sulfate
3-4 2 2 - Without
mordant

Table 6: Effect of mordanting on fastness properties of
samples dyed with madder
Light
fastness
Wash
fastness
Rub
fastness
Amount of
mordant %
owf
Mordant
4-5 2-3 3-4 1 Alum
4-5 2-3 3-4 3 Alum
5-6 3-4 4 5 Alum
5 3 3 1 Ferrous
sulfate
5-6 3-4 3 3 Ferrous
sulfate
6 4 4 5 Ferrous
sulfate
4-5 2-3 2-3 1 Copper
sulfate
4-5 3 3-4 3 Copper
sulfate
5-6 4 4 5 Copper
sulfate
4 2-3 2-3 - Without
mordant

Conclusions

Two natural dyes used in this study can be used to dye
cotton fiber with the help of metal mordants. If not
mordanted, the dye absorption is not good but
mordanting with alum, ferrous sulfate and copper
sulfate increased the dye absorption and fastness
properties of dye samples. The use of sodium sulfate in
dyeing bath can increase the dye absorption. Increasing
dyeing time and temperature has increasing effect on
dye absorption.

Acknowledgements
Proceedings of the 10
th
Asian Textile Conference ~ATC-10 ~ September 7-9, 2009 Ueda, Japan

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This paper was written from a research project done
under support of Islamic Azad University-Birjand
Branch.

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