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374 TEKSTİL ve KONFEKSİYON 23(4), 2013
(REFEREED RESEARCH)
INVESTIGATION OF WICKING PROPERTIES OF
NATURALLY-DYED LINEN FABRICS
DOĞAL BOYALI KETEN KUMAŞIN KILCALLIK
ÖZELLİĞİNİN İNCELENMESİ
Mustafa TUTAK1, Levent ÖNAL1, Hüseyin BENLİ2*
1Erciyes University, Department of Textile Engineering, Kayseri, Turkey
2Erciyes University, Mustafa Çıkrıkçıoğlu Vocational School, Kayseri, Turkey
Received: 27.08.2012 Accepted: 11.07.2013
ABSTRACT
The usage of natural dyes for textile products attracts great attention on eco-friendly production and utilization concept for the
consumers. In this study, linen fabrics were dyed with four different natural dyes from madder root, henna, buckthorn and walnut shell.
The dyeing was carried out with different mordants (iron sulphate, copper sulphate, potassium aluminum sulphate and tartaric acid),
using pre-mordanting dyeing methods. The dyeing performance of the fabrics was investigated in terms of color strength (K/S) and light,
washing, rubbing, and perspiration fastness properties. The color strength and fastness properties of the dyed linen fabrics were within
the evaluation range from good to excellent. The effect of natural dyeing on wicking and drying properties of linen woven fabrics were
further evaluated for better understanding of such processes on the comfort related properties such as vertical wicking and drying speed
of fabrics. Contact angle measurement test was also performed for better understanding of wicking behavior.
Key Words: Natural dyeing, Linen woven fabrics, Wicking, Drying properties, Contact angle measurement.
ÖZET
Doğal boyaların tekstil ürünlerinde kullanımı, tüketicilerde çevre dostu üretim ve kullanım açısından önem kazanmaktadır. Bu
çalışmada keten kumaş dört farklı doğal boya; kök boya, kına, cehri ve ceviz kabuğu ile boyanmıştır. Boyamalar farklı mordanlar ile
(demir sülfat, bakır sülfat, potasyum aliminyum sulfat ve tartarik asit) ön mordanlama metoduna göre yapıldı. Kumaşların boyanma
performansları K/S renk verimi, ışık, yıkama, sürtme ve ter haslıkları açısından araştırıldı. Boyalı kumaşların renk verimi ve haslık
iyi/mükemmel aralığında değerlendirildi. Konfor özelliklerinin daha iyi anlaşılması için keten kumaşta doğal boyamanın kılcallık ve
kuruma özelliklerine etkisi değerlendirildi. Dikey kılcallık, su temas açısı ölçümü ve kuruma hızı testleri yapıldı.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Doğal boyama, Dokuma keten kumaş, Kılcallık, Kuruma özellikleri, Temas açısı ölçümü.
Corresponding Author: Mustafa Tutak, mtutak@erciyes.edu.tr, Tel+90 352 207 66 66; Fax:+90 352 437 57 84
1. INTRODUCTION
Linen is the term used for fibers
received from the flax plant, Linum
usitatissimum. Linen fiber is popular
for garments and home textiles which
is valued for its exceptional coolness
and freshness in hot weather
conditions as well as its natural touch
and look (1-4). Linen has a number of
properties that makes it useful for
various textile applications like home
furnishings and apparels in which
absorbency and drying properties are
notable. Linen fiber absorbs significant
amount of moisture while dries
relatively fast compare to cotton. It is
excellent for manufacturing towels,
beddings and summer clothes. Heat
conductivity refers to the extent to
which heat can be conveyed through a
fiber. It is most suitable for use in hot
season, as the fiber allows the heat to
escape, leaving a cool effect (5).
The physical and dyeing properties of
linen fabric have been studied
extensively so far by several authors (6-
12). Ibrahim et al. investigated dyeing
properties of chitosan pretreated linen
fabrics in microwave oven. Chitosan
pretreatment in their study provide no-
salt dyeing of linen fabric with reactive
and direct dyes (6). Ledakowicz et al.
reported that controlled enzymatic
treatment of linen fabric causes an
increased sorption of water solution of
dyes and chemicals used in dyeing
process (7). Okeil et al. investigated
the bleaching efficiency of
enzymatically scoured linen fabrics
using a combined laccase-hyrogen
peroxide process. Their pretreatment
improves reactive and cationic dyeing
performances of linen fabrics (8).
Wicking and drying time of fabrics are
directly related to the comfort properties
of textiles which are particularly
affected by yarn tension, yarn structure,
twist angle, fiber cross-sectional shape,
number of yarns within the yarn, yarn
spinning systems, yarn blending
configuration and fabric structure.
Several scientists studied wicking and
drying properties of fabrics (9 – 13).
Moisture transmission properties of
TEKSTİL ve KONFEKSİYON 23(4), 2013 375
plain-woven fabrics produced from
PES-viscose blended yarns was
studied by Das et al. (9). Grudatt et al.
(10) used gravimetric absorption test
system (GATS) to measure the
absorption capacity, absorption rate
and drying rate of knit hoses, prepared
from different fibers. Sue et al. (11)
evaluated moisture absorption capacity,
diffusion rate and drying rate of knitted
fabrics made from PES core cotton
yarns produced with different blending
ratio. Alay and Yilmaz (12) aimed to
determine drying properties of the
fabrics knitted from natural fibers such
as cotton, wool and regenerated fibers
such as bamboo, and also conventional
and new generated synthetic fibers like
Coolmax. Hong and Kim (13) analyzed
thermal and wicking properties of
interlock knitted fabrics made from
cotton yarn, cotton and regular
polyester blended yarn, cross-shaped
polyester filament yarn. However, no
study was recorded on the color
intensity of naturally-dyed woven linen
fabrics and their effect on wicking
properties of fabrics. In this study, the
linen woven fabrics were dyed with
natural and fully organic dye in order to
have linen fabric ready for human and
eco-friendly textile production. The color
fastness and intensity of the dyed
fabrics were evaluated included the
SEM analysis on the linen fiber. The
vertical wicking properties of naturally
dyed fabrics were tested. The drying
properties of fabrics were also
evaluated.
2. MATERIAL AND METHOD
2.1 Fabric
The linen fabrics were supplied by
Turkun Textile Company (Bursa,
Turkey). The samples are plain weave
with the areal weight of 105 g/m2. The
yarn count of warp and weft yarns are
30 tex and the density values of fabrics
are 16 warps/cm and 18 weft/cm
respectively.
2.2 Treatment with Mordant
Linen fabrics were pretreated with 2 %
solutions of four different mordants; iron
sulphate FeSO4 (coded as M1), copper
sulphate, CuSO4 (coded as M2),
potassium aluminium sulphate, KAl
(SO4)2 (coded as M3), and tartaric acid,
C6H6O6 (coded as M4) for 30 min at 95oC.
The samples without any pretreatment
are coded with the letter “R”.
2.3 Natural Dyes and Dyeing
The natural dye resources are madder
root (coded as ND1), henna (coded as
ND2), buckthorn (coded as ND3), and
walnut shell (coded as ND4). The natural
dye madder and fabric sample were
added directly to dyeing bath (14-15).
The separately pretreated 5g of linen
fabrics were dyed with 5g natural dye
base (with the mixture rate of 1:1) in a
laboratory dyeing machine (Termal,
Turkey) at a liquor ratio 20:1. Dyeing
process began at 25 o C (Fig. 1). The
temperature was raised to 95 o C in 70
min and held constant for 60 min. The
temperature was decreased to 25o C
that the dyed samples were rinsed with
cold water. This treatment was
followed by washing with non-ionic
detergent (Setalan BNH by Setas
Chem. Company, Turkey) in the
boiling temperature and the samples
were again rinsed with hot water.
Finally, they are dried under laboratory
conditions.
2.4 Color Measurement and
Fastnesses Tests
The spectral reflectance measurements
of the samples were determined using
Konica Minolta 3600d
spectrophotometer under D65 illuminant
and a 10o standard observer with
specular and UV components included.
RealColor v1.3 color measurements
software was used for analysis. Color
intensity was expressed with K/S values
of the dyed samples using the
Kubelka-Munk equation:
(1 – R)2
K/S = (1)
2R
where R is the decimal fraction of the
reflectance of the dyed sample, K is
the absorption and S is the scattering
coefficient (16). The light, washing,
rubbing, and perspiration fastnesses of
dyed samples were determined
according to EN ISO 105-B02, EN ISO
105-C06, EN ISO 105-X12 and EN
ISO 105-E04 standards, respectively.
2.5 Drying Behavior
In order to measure the drying rate of
the fabric, samples were cut in the
dimensions of 10x10 cm square. Each
sample was weighed before the test
(recorded as dry weight). Fabrics were
dwelled in distilled water for 24 hours.
After 24 hours, test sample was
removed from the water, suspended
vertically for 15 seconds and finally
excess water was removed from the
fabric surface using two ply blotting
papers for two minutes. After this
procedure, each sample was weighed
again. An incubator set to 35 o C was
used for simulating the next to skin
temperature. The weight of the
samples was measured every 5
minutes. The drying test process was
carried on until the weight of samples
reaches the 0.5% percentage of their
dry weight.
Figure 1. Natural dyeing diagram
376 TEKSTİL ve KONFEKSİYON 23(4), 2013
2.6 Contact Angle Measurement
Water contact angle measurement test
of woven fabrics was carried out using
Attension Contact Angle Measurement
Testing Device. 2cmx2cm fabric
samples were cut and placed on the
sample holder of the device. The
device was adjusted to record the date
within the first 30 minutes. Three tests
were performed for samples and
average was recorded.
2.7 SEM Analysis
A scanning electron microscope (SEM)
LEO 440 was used to characterize the
surface morphology of the linen fibers.
The samples were prepared by the
standard preparative technique of
applying a gold layer to produce a
conductive surface with the
magnification of 8000x.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The purpose of this study is to
determine the dyeing performance of
various natural dyes in dyeing of linen.
Doing so, fabric samples were
pretreated with different mordants.
Surface morphology of the pretreated
linen fibers was analyzed using SEM
technique. The SEM images were
given in Figure 2a-e of grey control
sample at the magnificaiton of 8000X.
SEM images indicated that there is not
any quality deterioration on the
pretreated fiber surface. There are
mineral deposits on the surface of
pretreated linen with M1, M2, and M3
mordants. It is obvious that iron
sulphate molecules are widely and
almost homogenously scattered on the
surface of the linen fiber, while
potassium aluminium sulphate
molecules are mostly aggregated on
larger particles on the surface.
Figure 2. SEM images of linen fiber: (a) untreated, (b) M1 treated, (c) M2 treated, (d) M3 treated and (e) M4 treated
TEKSTİL ve KONFEKSİYON 23(4), 2013 377
Figure 3 shows the dependence of
color intensity of the mordaned linen
fabric with ND1, ND2, ND3, and ND4
natural dyes at 95o C dyeing
temperature. According to the results,
mordant type changed the color
strenght of the dyed linen fabrics. It is
particularly because of the change of
dye and mordant complex. Thus, the
treatment of linen fabric with different
mordants shows notable differences.
In general, the highest K/S value was
obtained from the ND3 dyes with M1
mordant, while the lowest K/S were
obtained from the ND1 - M2 interaction
and ND2 - M3 interaction.
3.1 Light, Washing, Rubbing, and
Perspiration Fastness
It is observed from Table 2 that light
fastness of blue scale levels are
between 4-5/6. However, the
maximum light fastness level were
obtained on ND1 dye pretreated with
the M1 mordant. However, the
minimum light fastness level was
obtained on ND4 - M3 mordant
combination. The light fastness results
are well coincide with the results given
in Figure 3. The light fastness of pale
colors are lower than the dark colors
that such tendency is obvious with the
K/S values.
3.2 Color and Build-up
The linen fabrics were pretreated with
four different mordant (M1-M4) at 95o
C by exhaustion technique for 30
minutes. The treated samples were
dyed using four different natural dyes
as described in the experimental
section. The dyed samples and their
color coordinates included their CIE L*
a* b* values are given in Table 1. When
different mordants were used as
pretreatment, different colors and color
coordinates were obtained for the
same natural dye.
Table 1. CIE L* a* b* coordinates and color example of dyed fabrics
Natural
dye
CIE
L* a* b* M1 M2 M3 M4
L* 49.28 69.89 59.02 62.39
a* 6.53 9.07 18.65 17.45
ND1
b* -4.07
0.35
3.48
1.96
L* 63.59 72.94 75.10 76.11
a* 3.75 -0.47 3.72 1.33
ND2
b* 7.50
20.40
7.40
13.93
L* 46.79 70.90 75.90 67.20
a* 2.29 1.55 1.17 6.33
ND3
b* 14.90
25.15
20.26
42.51
L* 61.78 64.97 62.20 71.71
a* 2.65 2.80 2.10 1.93
ND4
b* 7.72 9.72 9.58
8.51
Figure 3. Dependence of the color intensity of naturally dyed linen fabrics (ND: natural dye, M: mordant type)
378 TEKSTİL ve KONFEKSİYON 23(4), 2013
Table 2. Light, washing, rubbing, and perspiration fastness of dyed linen fabrics
Washing
fastness
Rubbing
fastness
Perspiration
fastness
Natural
dye
Mordant Light
fastness
chan. stan. wet dry acid alkali
M1 5/6 3/4 4/5 3/4 4/5 4/5 4
M2 4/5 4/5 5 5 5 4/5 4/5
M3 4 4 5 5 5 5 5
ND1
M4 4/5 4 5 4 4/5 5 4/5
M1 5 4/5 5 4/5 5 5 4/5
M2 4/5 4/5 5 5 5 4/5 4/5
M3 4/5 5 5 5 5 5 4/5
ND2
M4 4/5 5 4 5 5 5 5
M1 5/6 4/5 5 3/4 4/5 5 4/5
M2 4 5 5 4/5 5 4/5 4/5
M3 4 5 5 4 4/5 5 4/5
ND3
M4 4 5 5 4 4/5 5 5
M1 4/5 5 5 5 5 4/5 4/5
M2 4 4 4/5 5 5 5 4/5
M3 4 5 5 5 5 5 5
ND4
M4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5
The washing, rubbing, and perspiration
fastness results of dyed linen fabrics
show that the color fastness to natural
dyes are more or less on the same
line, depending on the color strength.
Washing fastness was examined in
terms of colour changing and staining.
It is found that apart from the ND1 dye,
the rest of dyeing agents have good
washing fastnesses. Rubbing fastness
was examined in terms of wet and dry
state. The rubbing fastness of ND2
and ND4 dyes are better than that of
other dyes. The dry and wet rubbing
fastness of all dyes are adequate. The
perspiration fastness to acid and alkali
of all dyes seem to be with in
acceptable range.
3.3 Vertical Wicking
Wicking properties of fabrics were
evaluated on vertical direction. The
naturally dyed samples were
compared with the raw and non-
pretreated samples. It is observed that
the wicking tendency of dyed samples
were better than the raw samples (Fig.
4). This is attributed to the mordant
pretreatments which lead the fabric
structure and yarn more capable of
absorbing water. The water absorption
increases with the time passed as
expected. When effect of dye on
vertical wicking behavior is considered,
the ND4 absorbs water faster than the
rest of the dye. Samples dyed with
ND1 absorb less water among all.
However any obvious trend on the
effect of mordant type is observed.
The mordants do not contribute the
wickability of fabrics on the same way
for different natural dyed linen fabrics.
This could be explained in a way that
of different chemical formulation of
individual dye stuffs and the way of
interaction of mordants with these
natural dyes. That is why, each
mordant affect the wicking tendency of
linen fabrics in a different way for
different natural dyes.
3.4 Contact Angle Measurements
Contact angle measurement tests of
linen fabrics has been performed for
better understanding of wicking and
drying behavior. The contact angle
measurement of linen fabrics gives
detailed information about both the
hydrophilic nature of fabrics and the
wickability. The contact angle
measurement results well coincide
with the vertical wicking test results
(Fig. 4). The test device could not
record the contact angle of most of
samples ND2 and ND4 due to very
high hydrophilicity (Table 3).
Figure 4. Vertical wicking behavior of samples within 30 minutes time period
TEKSTİL ve KONFEKSİYON 23(4), 2013 379
Table 3. Contact angle of the dyed fabrics
M1 M2 M3 M4
ND1 92.94 90.07 90.20 86.32
ND2 - - 92.14 -
ND3 91.47 89.05 88.96 91.08
ND4 - - - -
3.5 Drying Time
Drying speed of linen woven fabrics
were compared in Figure 5 with their
drying tendency until the mass
derivation reached to the 105% of the
dried weight which is depicted in
Figure 6. The raw undyed sample
dried faster than the naturally dyed
samples, which is attributed to the
higher water absorption rate of dyed
samples as indicated in Figure 4.
Drying speed of naturally dyed
samples are quite close to each other
where the difference between each
other is not notable for the significance
level of 95%.
4. CONCLUSION
The interest of using natural dyes on
textile materials has been attracted
great attention for the last ten years. In
this study, the linen woven fabrics
were dyed with different natural dyes
and pretreatments. For this purpose,
Madder root, Henna, Buckthorn, and
Walnut shell were selected. The
dyeing performances of dyed linen
fabrics were determined considering
K/S and color fastness properties.
According to the experimental results,
the linen fabrics were dyed with
different natural sources is appropriate
for human and nature-friendly garment
and related textile production.
The treatment of linen fabric with
different mordants affected the color
strength where the highest K/S value
was obtained from the ND3 dyes with
M1 mordant. When fastness values of
the fabrics were evaluated, the
maximum light fastness level were
obtained on ND1 dye pretreated with
the M1 mordant, while ND4 - M3
mordant combination has the minimum
light fastness level. When effect of
dyes on vertical wicking behavior is
considered, the ND4 sample absorbs
water faster than the samples dyed the
other dye. The contact angle
measurement results well coincide
with the vertical wicking test results
that contact measurement device
could not record the contact angle of
samples ND2 and ND4 due to very
high hydrophilicity. Drying speed of
samples match with the tendency of
the vertical wicking behavior that
samples raw untreated sample (coded
R) dried faster than the dyed samples.
ACNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was funded in part through
a grant Erciyes University Scientific
Research Project funding coded FBY-
09-1055. The authors thank to Ms. E.
Burcu Ozkan for her help to carry out the
vertical wicking tests.
Figure 5. The drying speed of the fabric. Figure 6. The mass derivation of sample weight during the drying test.
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