EFFECTS OF SELECTED MORDANTS ON COLOUR CHARACTERISTICS OF GREEN COCONUT HUSK DYE ON SILKTusharbala Sahoo, Nibedita Mishra and Sanjaya K. DashAbstract Coconut husk is a common waste material thrown away by the street vendors and coconut based food processing industries. The disposal of this waste often involves huge cost for the industries. Hence, further value addition of this waste can be rewarding. In this context, an attempt was made to extract dye from green coconut husk and to study its colouring characteristics on silk. The natural dyes need the support of mordants to acquire the properties as colour fastness to washing, rubbing as well as exposure to light. The mordants also affect the shades of colour. Thus, the colour intensity and fastness properties of silk fabric was determined after treating the fabric with five mordants, viz. copper sulphate, ferrous sulphate, aluminum sulphate, alum and citric acid. Each mordant was used at three concentrations, viz. 1, 3 and 5%. It was observed that the different mordants and their concentrations affected the final shades of colours as well as the fastness properties. In view of the treatments considered in this study, the CuSO4 and FeSO4 mordants at 3 and 5% levels and alum at 5% level can be recommended for application on silk. |