Dyeing behavior and characterization of recycled cotton and chitosan blended fabrics

Abstract

The cultivation and wet processing of cotton is very harmful to the environment. Recycling of cotton is an important way to reduce its environmental impact. For this purpose, recycled cotton by using it in a mixture with chitosan yarns and the dyeing behavior of fabrics produced from this blend were examined within the scope of sustainable production. Among the reactive, direct and acid dyeings, the highest color depths were obtained from dyeing with direct dye in alkaline medium and in the presence of salt. It was observed that the dyeing temperature was important for leveling dyeing. The fastness results of reactive dyeing were higher than the others. The FTIR analysis interpreted as that polyester might have been mixed during processing into recycled cotton and the presence of chitosan in the blend could be indicated by decreasing band intensities compared to cotton. The SEM images supported the presence of chitosan in the blended fabric. According to the TGA results, the change in temperature at which the maximum weight loss was observed in the blended fabric approached to that of chitosan. The results showed that chitosan and cotton obtained from recycling could be used as a mixture instead of cotton.