Introduction

Cotton fibre can chiefly be dyed with direct, reactive, vat, sulphur and azoic classes of dyestuffs. In textile applications this environment friendly fibre has some distinct advantages like moderate dry and wet tensile strength, appreciable moisture regain, moderate extensibility and soft feel, which makes it suitable for apparel and diversified applications. Chemical modification of cotton to improve its affinity for acid and reactive classes of dyestuffs and as well as natural colourants has received considerable attention in recent years [1-4]. Most of these modifications were based on the introduction of cationic groups in the form of quaternary, tertiary or secondary amino residues in the molecular structure of cotton cellulose. Unlike this, research works related to the application of pigment on cotton cellulose through an exhaust technique was scanty [5-7]. Pigments are insoluble in water and have no affinity for textile. Use of pigments for printing of textile by ancient Chinese in the eighteenth century by using blocks had been reported in the literature [8]. Colouration of cotton cellulose with pigment emulsion has always played a key role in determining the aesthetic appeal and acceptability of the products made from them.

The main attention of the study embodied in the present paper centers round the modification of cotton cellulose by different aminating agents to impart pigment affinity and to compare the results with the conventional pigment dyeing process. Optimisation of dose level of those aminating agents in terms of depth of shade, mechanical parameters and assessment of different colourfastness properties of those pigment dyed fabrics were also carried out and the results are reported in the present work.

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About the Author

The author is Lecturer at Visva Bharati University in the Department of Silpa Sadana (Textile section), Sriniketan, Dist. Birbhum, West Bengal.