Khakra Gum-A Natural Source for Eco-Printing of Silk Fabric

Present research is based on standardization of printing procedure using Khakra gum (gum excrete of Butea monosperma) as dye source for printing silk fabric with selected mordants for mordant printing. Based on the colour strength values, clarity of design, sharpness of design and level of shades two concentration per mordants were selected for optimization of printing procedure on silk fabric and to study its effects on colourfastness properties. Aqueous medium was found suitable for extraction of dye for one hour. A dye material concentration of 2% and optimum time of dyeing was found 45 minutes for Khakra gum. After printing the Silk fabric with selected concentration of mordants, the samples were dyed with selected concentration of dye. The dyed and printed silk samples were post treated with 5 per cent solution of different fixing agents, Treatment 1 (T₁)-Vinegar (CH₃COOH), Treatment 2 (T₂)-Alum AlK(SO₄)₂, Treatment 3 (T₁)-Common salt (NaCl), Treatment 4 (T₁-Lime juice and Treatment 5 (T₅)-Sodium carbonate(Na₂CO₃) for improving colourfastness towards sunlight, washing and crocking.