Physical and chemical treatments of ecological textile materials

Various applications of natural pigments in cotton fabrics were studied.There was a research on the potentials of the plant colorant annatto on the cotton fabrics. Alumwas selected as a mordant. The study focused on the most important application techniques andconditions (temperature, pH, amount of alum) bearing in mind the new environmentalrequirements and the new technological possibilities.The aim was to standardize the whole procedure in order to form a regular protocol for the textiledyeing with natural dyes, thus achieving at least a partial replacement of synthetic dyes bynatural dyes. Quality control of all the dyeing performed was made using standard fastness testsand colour measurements.Another part of the study was the usage of 11 natural pigments for the preparation of printingpastes. The physical properties pH, conductivity, surface tension and viscosity of these pasteswere measured over a period of 16 days for the evaluation of the stability and suitability of themand they proved to be suitable and used for printing of cotton fabrics. The prints were subjectedto wash, light, rub, perspiration, dry clean, dry heat fixation, PVC migration, hypochlorite bleachand discharge fastness tests and colour measurements and they proved, to be satisfactory.The third section of the study involves four natural pigments, which were used as colorants forthe preparation of water-based ink jet inks for digital textile printing. The physical properties ofthe inks were estimated over a period of 90 days and were proved to be stable and suitable forink jet printing. The prints were subjected to wash, light and rub fastness tests and colourmeasurements. The results were promising and this paves the way for the production ofenvironmentally friendly cotton prints through the formulation of suitable printing techniques