Transfer Printing of Polyester Fabrics with Natural Dyes

This study attempts to highlight the possibility of using natural dyes in transfer printing of polyester fabrics. The used dyes were Turmeric, Alkanet, and Rhubarb. To obtain optimum conditions for transfer printed polyester fabris, different factors were investigated such as concentration of dyes, the pH of printing paste and both the transfer time and temperature of printing. The types of thickening agents were also studied. Both natural and synthetic thickeners (sodium alginate and Dicothick) were used, and thier mixtures with different ratios were examined. Colour strength, percentage of dye penetration and fastness properties were also assessed.

The investigation indicates that varying transfer printing conditions, temperature and time has a marked impact on the colour strength of polyester prints and hence optimum conditions for transfer printing can be established .Results of the studies conducted for different types of thickeners show that Dicothick gave the highest colour strength values while sodium alginate prints had the lowest values, and thier mixture lied in between, fastness properties values varied from very good to excellent for three natural dyes.