Upreti, Monika; Pant, Suman; Rani, Sonu and Mishra, Anupama
In the present study, the effect of chitosan on printing quality, stiffness and crease recovery of the silk fabric has been presented. Effect of pre-treatment of silk with varying concentration of chitosan (0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2%) in printing and varying concentration of chitosan (15ml, 25ml, 35ml and 45ml) when incorporated into the printing paste was studied. Pre-treatment with chitosan does not affect the color yield of the printed sample. Evenness of print decreased as compared to control fabric. As concentration of chitosan increased from 0.5% to 1.5%, sharpness of print decreased. The texture of the printed silk fabric became harsh in pre-treated fabric but there was no effect on texture in simultaneous use of chitosan in printing paste. It was also found that, stiffness of silk fabric increased progressively with increase in the concentration of chitosan in pre-treatment of silk fabric in printed fabric, whereas in simultaneously treated silk fabric, stiffness slightly increased. Treatment of silk fabric with chitosan before printing caused more reduction increase recovery of silk than simultaneous treatment in printing.
Keywords: Chitosan | crease recover | printing | silk | stiffness
Introduction
With growing awareness of people towards environmental friendly approaches, natural fibre and natural polymer have received much more attention than ever before from the researcher. Eco-friendly textiles are becoming one of the priority areas that have turned attention towards environmentally benign products. Chitosan is a natural biopolymer of poly [β-(1-4)-2-amio-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranose]- obtained by chitin de-acetylation. The monomer unit is found in the exoskeleton of many animal species like crustaceans, arthropods and mollusces’. It is one of the chief constituent of cell walls of certain fungi (Enescu, 2008).
Many researchers reported that chitosan having unique properties like biodegradability, biocompatibility, non-toxicity, and antimicrobial properties (Hosseini et al., 2013; Lim and Hudson, 2003; Jia et al., 2001). The non-toxic and biodegradable properties are specifically gaining attention of research and commercial communities like biomedical, textile and chemical industrial (Jocic et al., 2005). Treatment of textile material with chitosan which is considered as multifunctional finishes which not only provide antimicrobial properties but also enhance the color strength (Bondyopadhyay et.al. 2001). Abdou (2013) reported that printed samples have similar colorfastness to that of commercial samples, but chitosan film on fabric surface create the problem of poor handling i.e. makes the fabric stiff. Chitosan is applied on all type of natural fabrics. In the present study silk fabric was used. Silk fibre is known as “Queen of Fibres” because of its graceful lustre and soft texture which makes it different from others (Peng et. al., 2012). Chitosan is used as an auxiliary in textile printing.
Therefore, keeping in view the importance and utility of the chitosan, this paper focused on, studying the effect of chitosan on printing of silk fabric with acid dye and depth of shade, evenness of dyeing and texture of printed sample were evaluated. Also, the effect of chitosan concentration of stiffness and crease recovery of the printed sample were studied.
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