Evaluation of Reactive Dye Adsorption by Chitosan-Treated Cotton Fabrics

One of the common problems encountered in dyeing textiles with reactive dyes is their weak adsorption and take up by the textiles. In this work، the adsorption behavior of reactive dyes on the cotton fabric treated with chitosan was investigated. Initially، the cotton fabrics were treated with potasium periodate as an oxidating agent; subsequently impregnated with chitosan and finally dyed with two reactive dyes، with MCT (Remazol deep RR gran) and MCT/VS (Remazol deep red RGB gran) mono- and bifunctional groups. The obtained results indicated that the chitosan treatment could increase the dye adsorption as well as its fixation to cellulose. The samples، treated with chitosan followed by reduction with potassium hydrosulphate، showed the best dye adsorption properties. Generally the fastness properties of chitosan-treated cotton fabrics were acceptable as compared to untreated samples. Based on the obtained results، treatment of cotton samples with chitosan can be used in order to increase the adsorption of reactive dyes.