PRETREATMENT PROCESS OF

SILK
• Means any treatment, which is done before
actual (dyeing and printing) process. To
prepare a silk yarn for dyeing and silk fabrics
for dyeing and printing, it is necessary to
partially or completely remove sericin, as well
as natural oils and organic impurities.

• Degumming/Scouring
• Bleaching
 Degumming of Silk
• The process of eliminating “Gum (sericin)” from
raw silk is known as degumming of
silk. Degumming of silk involves mainly the
removal of sericin from the fibroin.
• Sericin is insoluble in water. It is comparatively
easily hydrolyzed whereby the long protein
molecule of sericin is broken down into smaller
fractions, which are easily dispersed or
solubilized in hot water.
• Hydrolysis of proteins can be carried out
by treatment with acids, alkalis and enzymes.
Acids are non-specific and tend to
attack vigorously. Alkalis also attack both, sericin
and fibroin.
• However, the variation in the rate of hydrolysis is
large enough to control the reaction. The
degumming with soaps in the presence of mild
alkalis like soda ash is practiced.
• Degumming with alkalis is a function of pH,
temperature and duration of treatment. The pH
should be kept at the leve1 of 9.5 to 10.5. If the
level is below 9.5, then the process of removing
sericin will be slow. If the pH is over 10.5, the
weight loss will be greatly increased.
 Bleaching of Silk
• The silk being spun by silkworm contains natural colouring
matter tinted with yellow, yellow -green and brown
pigments. During degumming the removal of sericin from
the silk results in dull white to lightly tinted material.
• Since some of the sericin is closely held by fibroin,
complete elimination of the colour by degumming is not
possible. During bleaching these natural colouring matters
are decolorized /removed to produce pure white material.
• An efficient bleaching process must ensure pure whiteness
and level dyeing properties and non- degradation of the
material. The bleaching of silk is based on the use of either
reducing agents or oxidizing agents.
 Some of the important reducing
agents used for bleaching are:
• Sodium hydrosulphite (Hydrose)
• Sulphur dioxide
• Sodium/Zinc sulphoxylate Formaldehyde
• The above reducing agents at time tend to de-
oxidize original colour may be restored in the
bleached material.
The popular oxidizing agents used for
bleaching of silk are
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Potassium permanganate
• Sodium perborate
• Sodium peroxide
• The chlorine-based agents such as bleaching
powder are not generally used, as they tend to
chlorinate the silk fibroin. Hydrogen peroxide
is most commonly used for bleaching.