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The preparation and processing of tussah silk
Abstract
Tussah silk is well known for its fast fawn colour, which is often preserved in the manufacture of dress and other fabrics. Hence the processing of tussah for fabrics has not been very common, except for certain ladies' apparel such as sarees, scarves, etc. Little information on the practical processing of tussah silk has appeared in the technical literature. The present paper will attempt to review the preparation, dyeing, printing and finishing of tussah silk based on laboratory and mill experience.
... Tussah silk is different from Bombyx mori silk in the following aspects: appearance and color, amino acid composition, morphological structure, crystalline structure, stability to chemicals, and mechanical behavior. Raw tussah silk is ecru to dark brown in appearance due to a high content of natural pigments, which can not be completely removed by means of degumming and bleaching (Das, 1992). In general, bleached tussah textiles are light yellow. ...
... Tussah silk has lower tensile strength but higher elongation at break than Bombyx mori silk (Freddi et al., 1995;Uzumcu et al., 2021). In addition, tussah silk exhibits stronger resistance to acid, alkali and bleaching agents than Bombyx mori silk (Das, 1992;Freddi et al., 1995;Liddiard, 1982). ...
... Acid, metal-complex, direct, and reactive dyes are often used. However, when the same apparent color depth is desired, tussah silk requires a higher quantity of dyes than Bombyx mori silk, likely due to its flatness cross-section (Das, 1992;Liddiard, 1982). Tussah silk itself is short of functionality. ...
... Therefore, in the case of dyeing at 90 • C, it would be better that the fixation of SES dyes be carried out in an alkaline medium. Previous reviews pointed out that when the same apparent color depth was expected, tussah silk required a greater quantity of acid dyes than mulberry silk, probably due to its flat cross-section [2,34]. Evidently, the build-up ability of reactive dyes is also important for the deep dyeing of tussah silk. ...
Tussah silk is one of the most widely used wild silks. It is usually dyed with acid dyes, despite the shortcoming of poor wet fastness. Reactive dyeing is a good solution to this problem. In our work, sulfatoethylsulfone (SES), sulfatoethylsulfone/monochlorotriazine (SES/MCT), monochlorotriazine (MCT), and bis(monochlorotriazine) (Bis(MCT)) dyes were used to dye tussah silk. All of these dyes showed lower exhaustion and fixation on tussah silk than on mulberry silk under alkaline conditions. Among them, SES dyes were more applicable, with a fixation of 70–85% (at 4%owf dye) at 90 °C when using sodium bicarbonate as an alkali. SES dyes also showed a rapid fixation speed. The dyeing of tussah silk required lower sodium bicarbonate dosage, the use of more neutral electrolytes, and a higher dye quantity to achieve deep effects compared to mulberry silk. Dyed tussah silk displayed lower apparent color depth and brilliance than dyed mulberry silk. The neutral boiling dyeing of tussah silk with SES dyes exhibited higher exhaustion, higher fixation (82–92% at 4%owf dye), and a slower fixation speed compared with alkaline dyeing. Furthermore, in this dyeing method, SES dyes showed higher and more efficient fixation on tussah silk than on mulberry silk. All dyed tussah silk had excellent color fastness to soaping.
... The original color of the fiber can be preferred in clothing without dyeing. If dyed, color yield on tussah fiber would be the half of mulberry silk, according to Das (Das 1992). Wild silk fiber types generally have lower tenacity but higher elongation values than mulberry silk fibers (Padaki, Das, and Basu 2015). ...
Although it has been used for centuries; silk’s appearance, touch, and other high-quality properties maintain the popularity of the fiber. However, there are different types of silkworms, so different types of silk fibers are available. Other than Mulberry silk there are some others: eri, muga, tasar and tussah, which are generally deemed “wild silk”. In this study, color fastness properties of one of these wild silk fibers: tussah was investigated in comparison with mulberry silk fiber. For comparison, mulberry and tussah silk fibers were blended with cotton, viscose rayon, and modal fibers and spun using open-end rotor spinning system. After yarn productions; single jersey fabrics were knitted, pretreated and dyed. Color fastness tests were made to evaluate the performances. Results indicate that both types of silk fibers are appropriate for spinning and knitting processes and the fastness results revealed that mulberry fibers resulted with better color fastness properties in comparison with tussah silk fibers.
... Tropical tasar ( Figure 2) has copperish colour and coarse fibers (in comparison with mulberry silk) 8,30 . Silkworm diet contains trees Terminalia tomentosa (asan tree), T. arjuna (arjun tree) and Shorea robusta (shala tree) 31 . The shape of the cocoon is oval like the rest of the wild silks, its colour is brown, it has a wall thickness of 0.38±0.02 ...
As being one of the most important textile fibers, silk has drawn attention of specialists for a long time. Fiber’s extraordinary features, due to its structure, are the reasons for this. This animal fiber, commonly known as silk, is the mulberry silk produced by the silkworm called Bombyx mori. In addition to this, there are also different silk types which are called as “wild silk” and obtained from the cocoons of the worms that they produce for completing their metamorphosis. Although their use is not as common as Mulberry silk, utilization of wild silk fibers - generally produced in India and China - in textiles have been increasing in recent years. There are various studies about wild silk fibers which have different types such as Eri, Muga, Tasar and Tussah. Moreover, spider silk can be categorized in wild silk fiber group. In this study, wild silk types, their properties and utilization in textiles are introduced.
“Wild” silks, produced by various silkworm species, are often valued in textile production, but present greater challenges in dyeing compared to the “domestic” mulberry silk from Bombyx mori. This study investigates the reasons behind these challenges, focusing on key components such as fibroin, sericin proteins, and calcium oxalate crystals. The degumming process, which removes sericin, generally enhances dye penetration; however, its efficiency varies with the type of silk and its chemical composition. Using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, and UV–Visible spectroscopy, we characterized the composition of cocoon samples from 11 different silkworms, both with and without a preliminary degumming step, and assessed their dyeing behavior with turmeric and indigo dyes. FTIR provided insights into the molecular structure and physico-chemical interactions within the silk fibers, while UV–Visible spectroscopy quantified dye sorption. Our findings demonstrate that effective degumming is crucial for dye uptake, with greater degumming loss often leading to a higher and more homogenous dye sorption. In some cases, the degumming procedure did not completely remove sericin, the latter of which not only physically impedes dye penetration into the silk mass but also forms physicochemical interactions with the dye, influencing the overall sorption capacity. Additionally, the presence of calcium oxalate crystals – particularly in wild silks like Antheraea paphia – can further impede dye sorption. Corroborating images obtained using optical digital microscopy supported these findings.
Biotechnology has impacted the textile industry through the improvement of more proficient and eco-friendly manufacturing processes, as well as by facilitating the amended designs of textile materials. Traditionally, the growing textile industry requires harsh chemicals, a lot of costs, labor, and energy for processing. Efforts due to heavy energy costs and water deficit are being made to substitute the conventional chemical processes with eco-friendly and economically alluring bioprocesses. Applications of laccases for nape removing, fabric processing, bio bleaching, dyeing, printing, and cellulases for denim finishing are the recent commercial advancements. Latterly, tools of biotechnology also include the modification of synthetic and natural fibers. This chapter represents the application of biotechnological tools involved in the textile industry to make it more clean and global friendly. This manuscript is about to explore the design and engineering of novel enzymes for textile applications. Hopefully, this chapter will give a new guideline to the textile community, academic researchers and traders to move towards the applications of biotechnology for improvement of textile processing.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the field of functional finishing of textiles, describing the state-of-the-art research and well-established techniques applied in the textile industry, and covering all areas of textile dyeing and finishing. It is intended for academic researchers and professionals in related scientific and engineering fields, including textile engineering, chemistry, nanotechnology, material science, biotechnology and environmental science. The book also provides reference material for stakeholders looking for innovative technologies and insights into the environmental and sustainability issues in the development of functional textiles and related products.
In the recent past, wearable electronics has emerged as one of the significant products of nanoscience and nanotechnology initiatives. Multi-functional textiles achieved by means of surface modification with nanomaterials are a promising strategy by which flexible and wearable electronics, also called as “next generation electronics” could be developed. Nanostructured metal and metal oxide materials, metal organic frameworks (MOF), nanostructured carbon derivatives and conducting polymers are the major kinds of materials being used to modify the surface of textiles for the fabrication of wearable devices. In this chapter, modification or functionalization of textile surface with nanomaterials through predominantly used techniques like Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD), Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) and other chemical techniques have been reviewed. Also, applications of wearable textiles with functionalized surface for energy harvesting, electromagnetic interference filter with special focus on UV, and wearable sensors for healthcare and environment quality monitoring, etc., have been highlighted.
Contaminated drinking water in many parts of the world causes acute health dilemma. An easily applicable method to detect this invisible hazard in domestic tap water is of prime importance. In this investigation we developed a spectro-photometric quantitative method for detection of free chlorine in domestic tap water using protein-based analytical stripes. Two renewable proteins; namely keratin and sericin were extracted from waste materials (coarse wool fleece and raw natural silk) and supported on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix. The formed protein/PVA composite was used as a hosting material for starch/potassium iodide reagent which liberates iodine upon interaction with free chlorine in water. The liberated iodine generates a measurable bluish colored complex with starch. Detection of chlorine in water was conducted in presence and absence of possible interfering moieties; Viz. elemental bromine as well as bromide and fluoride ions.
Amino acid analysis, gel filtration chromatography and Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry monitored the alteration in the chemical composition of the extracted proteins. The proper method of storage and usage of the proposed analytical stripes was adopted by measuring the solubility of the prepared protein-based composite in water, alkali, and urea-bisulphite solution. The ability of the said composite to withstand deterioration from bacteria was also assessed. Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the surface characteristic of the prepared composites.
The proposed stripes are convenient to detect low range levels of free chlorine especially for drinking water or pools below to 4 ppm.
This book discusses the following subjects: Advances made in biochemistry of proteins; ribosomal-RNA; ribosomes-structure and functions, forest viruses of animal cells and microtubules.
A short description of the production of tussah (wild silk) is given. The degumming, batch dyeing, semi-continuous dyeing and finishing of tussah yams and fibres are described.
Tasar culture, Central Tasar Research Station
- M S Jolly