WOLLO UNIVERSITY

KOMBOLCHA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF TEXTILE, LEATHER AND FASHION TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF TEXTILE ENGINERING

STUDY ON DYEABILITY OF COMBINATION OF EUCALYPTUS LEAF

AND ONION SKIN

BY
S.No NAME ID No
1 MENTSEGEBA ATSBHA WOUR/1113/08
2 NIGST ASMARE WOUR/1312/08
3 MULU ENDHAW WOUR/1239/08

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

FENTA MEHABIE

DECEMBER, 2013
WOLLO, KOMBOLCHA, ETHIOPIA

i
 ABSTRACT
Many plant species are found to have an important role in the day-to-day life of the ethnic and
local people. However, it is a matter of concern that the indigenous knowledge of extraction,
processing and practice of using of natural dyes has diminished to a great extent among the new
generation of ethnic people due to easy availability of cheap synthetic dyes. The production and
usage of the synthetic dyes is related with carcinogenic, toxic, allergic effects on humans and to
our environment. Costumers are becoming more and more conscious about the hazardous threats
and potential health issues in conjunction with the textiles they are using. Thus by keeping in
view of above, the present study has been undertaken so as to come to the age-old are of dyeing
with natural dyes. In the present work, the eucalyptus leaf and onion skin were used for the
aqueous extraction of dye, dyeing of the cotton fabrics with the combination of 50:50 but at
different concentration, using mordants (alum) and evaluate the resultant colour strength(k/s),
colour fastness of the dyed samples to washing, rubbing, and light. The results and observations
indicate that the dyed samples have a yellow color shade. When the dye concentration (40-100)
% and mordant concentration increase (5-6)% the shade depth/ colour strength also increase in
the range keep other parameter constant. With regards to color fastness, test samples exhibited
good fastness to washing, good fastness to rubbing and light fastness.

Key words: Natural dye, Extraction, Textile, Mordants, Colour Strength, Colour Fastness,

i
 APPROVAL BY ADVISOR
To the best of our knowledge and as understood by the student in the Research Integrity and
Copyright Disclaimer, this thesis/project adheres to the provisions of guidelines, policies and
legislations of the Ethiopian Institute of Technology for Textile and fashion design during their
research work and use of copyrighted material. The thesis is complete and can be presented to
the textile department.

Fenta M.
Advisor Name Signature

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First we express our heartiest thanks and gratefulness to Almighty God for his divine blessing
makes us possible to complete this work successfully. We fell grateful and wish our profound
indebtedness to Instructor Mr. Fenta Mehabie for his entire Advice, endless patience, scholarly
guidance, and continual encouragement starting from the beginning up to the end of our work.

Deep knowledge & keen interest of some kombolcha university staff in department of Textile lab
Mr. Dawit G. At last but not the least, we would like to acknowledge our parents for their
approval, support & love to complete our work. Finally we would like to acknowledge that we
remain responsible for the inadequacies and errors, which doubtlessly remain.

iii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... vi
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. vi
CHAPTER ONE .........................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1
1.1 Back ground of the study ...................................................................................................1
1.2 Objective ...........................................................................................................................2
1.2.1 Main objective.............................................................................................................2
1.2.2 Specific objective ........................................................................................................2
1.3 Statement problem .............................................................................................................2
1.4 Significance .......................................................................................................................3
1.4.1 Benefit ........................................................................................................................3
1.4.2 Beneficiary ..................................................................................................................3
1.5 Scope of the study..............................................................................................................3
CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE ............................................................................................................................4
2.1 Dye ....................................................................................................................................4
2.2 Classification of dye ..........................................................................................................5
2.2.1 Synthetic dye ...............................................................................................................5
2.2.2 Natural dye ..................................................................................................................5
2.2.1 Dyeing of cotton fabric with natural dyes ....................................................................7
2.3 Mordants ...........................................................................................................................7
2.3.1Importance of mordants ................................................................................................8
2.3.2 Types of mordant ........................................................................................................9
2.3.3 Mordanting process .....................................................................................................9
2.4 Eucalyptus .........................................................................................................................9
2.5 Onion skin ....................................................................................................................... 10
2.6 Literature gaps ................................................................................................................. 10
CHAPTER THREE................................................................................................................... 11

iv
MATERIAL AND METHODS ................................................................................................. 11
3.1 Materials and chemicals ................................................................................................... 11
3.1 Preparation of dyeing material eucalyptus and onion skin ................................................ 11
3.2 Extraction of dye ............................................................................................................. 12
3.3 Mordanting ...................................................................................................................... 12
3.4 Dyeing ............................................................................................................................. 12
3.4 Colour measurement of dyed fabric ................................................................................. 13
3.5 Colour fastness of dyed fabric .......................................................................................... 13
3.5.1 Washing fastness ....................................................................................................... 14
3.5.2 Rubbing fastness ....................................................................................................... 14
3.5.3 Light fastness ............................................................................................................ 14
CHAPTER FOUR ..................................................................................................................... 15
RESULT AND DISCTION ....................................................................................................... 15
4.1 Dye yields ........................................................................................................................ 15
4.2 Characteristics of dyed fabric ........................................................................................... 15
4.2.1 Colour strength .......................................................................................................... 15
4.2.1 Colour fastness .......................................................................................................... 16
CHAPTER FIVE ...................................................................................................................... 18
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ......................................................................... 18
5.1 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 18
5.2 Recommendation ............................................................................................................. 18
5.3 Future scope of work ....................................................................................................... 19
5.4 Limitations ...................................................................................................................... 19
REFERENCE ........................................................................................................................... 20

v
 LIST OF TABLES
Table 3:1 Effect of dye concentration ........................................................................................ 12
Table 3:2 Effects of mordant concentration on dyeability .......................................................... 13
Table 4:1 Effect of dye concentration ........................................................................................ 16
Table 4:2 Effects of mordant concentration on dyeability .......................................................... 16

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2:1 Different colours of textile dye ...................................................................................4
Figure 2.2 Dyes on cellulosic fiber ..............................................................................................4
Figure 2:3 The complex mechanism of cellulose fibers and dyes with ion metal ..........................8
Figure 2.3 Color composition of eucalyptus leaves extract ..........................................................9
Figure 2:4 Structural formula of Pelargonidin............................................................................ 10
Figure 3:1 Preparation of eucalyptus ......................................................................................... 11
Figure 3:2 Preparation of onion skin .......................................................................................... 11
Figure 3:3 Extraction and filtration of dye ................................................................................. 12
Figure 3:5 Spectrophotometer ................................................................................................... 13
Figure 3:6 Light fastness test ..................................................................................................... 14

vi
 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Back ground of the study
The art of applying color in fabric has been known for a long time. Historical records of the use
of natural dyes extracted from vegetables, fruits, flowers, insects and also fish date back to 3500
BC. However, the importance of natural dyes disappeared since the advent of synthetic dyes,
which have a wide range of colors and shades as their main advantage. The generation of liquid
effluents is significant environmental problem, since most synthetic dyes are complex aromatic
molecular structures, which make them inert with difficulty in biodegrading when discharged
into the environment.

In this regards, many commercial dyers already have started using natural dyes as a convenient
replacement of synthetic dyes to overcome the environmental damage caused by synthetic dyes.
Also, synthetic dyes such as azo dyes are found to be carcinogenic (Nurunnesa 2018).

The use of natural dyes to replace synthetic dyes has been reintroduced in order to decrease the
environmental problems associated with synthetic dyes. Natural dyes are organic compounds that
can be obtained from natural sources such as plants or insects. They exhibit intensive colors, are
substantive to fibers, environmentally safe, easy to handle. Hence, there are intensive research
efforts to develop and use these dyes. Although the same types of trees may be available in
different parts of the world, their physical and chemical constituents vary widely as they are
dependent on the evolutionary nature in different parts of the world. In this research work, a
study was made to evaluate the potential of extraction of natural dyes from eucalyptus tree and
onion skin found in Ethiopia, to study the dyeing capability of the dyes on cotton fabric.

The main components of eucalyptus leaves that are responsible for the color given to textile
material are saretannins (gallic acid and ellagic acid) and flavonoids (rutin and quercetin). These
substances are considered very useful during the dyeing process due to their ability to fix the dye
within fabrics. In all molecules there are hydroxyl groups and oxygen atoms that may be related
to hydrolysis or partial charges, which are probably responsible for attraction to the cotton
hydroxyl groups.

1
The outer scales of onion, including the brown skin and the outer fleshy scales, are significant
by-products of onions. These outer scales are mostly discarded. However, effective utilization of
these by-products is desirable. The skin of onions is inedible however it contains a dyestuff
called “Pelargonidin” (tetrahydroxyntoacyanidol).

1.2 Objective
1.2.1 Main objective
 Study on dye ability of combinations of eucalyptus leaf and onion skin.

1.2.2 Specific objective

 To extract natural dye from eucalyptus leaf and onion skin
 To identifying chemical composition of natural dyes extracted from eucalyptus and onion
 To apply natural dyes on cotton fabric
 To test color strength and fastness

1.3 Statement problem

The production and usage of the synthetic dyes is related with carcinogenic, toxic, allergic
effects on humans and to our environment. Costumers are becoming more and more conscious
about the hazardous threats and potential health issues in conjunction with the textiles they are
using. Most of the commercial textile dyers have responded to the trend towards using natural
dyes and started looking towards the maximum possibilities of using natural dyes for the dyeing
and printing of different textile materials. But the process of cotton natural dyeing is problematic
in most cases due to the low affinity and weak fastness properties of natural dyes on cotton fiber.
It needs finding natural dyes which dye easily and having good fastness properties. Improving
the dyeing and fastness properties of textile fibers is the main subject of various studies. Based
on this, new we are initiating to study the dyeability of combination of natural dye. Due to the
current Eco consciousness, researchers‟ attention has been shifted to the use of natural dyes for
dyeing textile materials.

2
1.4 Significance
1.4.1 Benefit
 To reduce environmental pollution
 To reduce health problem
 Work opportunity for dye extractors and formation of business

1.4.2 Beneficiary
 Customer
 Industries

1.5 Scope of the study

In this project, dyeability of eucalyptus and onion skin on cotton fabric will be identified. Plant
leaves of eucalyptus and the waste of onion skin will be collect, extract, apply the extracted
components on the pre-treated cotton fabric with the suitable methods and finally assess the
dyeability of eucalyptus and the waste of onion skin extracted dyed cotton fabric.

3
 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE
2.1 Dye
Dyes are substances that add color to textiles. They are incorporated into the fiber by chemical
reaction, absorption, or dispersion (Chequer et al. 2013). Dyes are natural or synthetic substance
used to colour something. Dyes are the chemicals that are absorbed into the molecular structure
of textile fibers which produce the color of the molecular structure of textile fibers which
produce the color of the textile product.

Figure 2:1 Different colours of textile dye

Dyes used for fabric such as cotton, wool, and silk are complex organic molecules that contain
what is known as a chromophore group, that is, they contain some type of conjugated, alternating
double and single bonds in part of the molecule. These molecules can absorb certain wavelengths
of visible light and reflect the remaining light and, thus, give a fabric its color. A dye must be
soluble in the application medium, usually water, at some point during the coloration process. It
will also usually exhibit some substantivity for the material being dyed and be absorbed from the
aqueous solution.

Figure 2.2 Dyes on cellulosic fiber

Dyeability: The ability of a dye to maintain its colour without fading or washing away or the
ability to be dyed.

4
2.2 Classification of dye
There are several ways for classification of dyes. Dyes according to the source; According to
source, dyes are generally two types. Those are natural dyes and synthetic dyes. Dyes derived
from organic or inorganic compound are known as synthetic dyes. According to the nuclear
structure dyes can be categorized cationic dyes and anionic dyes. Now the most common
specified classification of dyes according to their application are direct, acid, azoic, solvent, basic,
reactive, mordant, vat, sulfur and disperse dye (Zubairu 2015).

2.2.1 Synthetic dye

Dyes are synthesized in a reactor, filtered, dried, and blended with other additives to produce the
final product. The synthesis step involves reactions such as sulfonation, halogenation, amination,
diazotization, and coupling, followed by separation processes that may include distillation,
precipitation, and crystallization.

2.2.2 Natural dye

Natural dyes are derived from natural resources and based upon their source of origin; these are
broadly classified as plant, animal, mineral, and microbial dyes although plants are the major
sources of natural dyes. Natural dye can be used for dyeing almost all types of natural dye.
Natural dyes are also used in the colouration of food, medicines, handicraft and toys, in the
leather processing and many of the dye-yielding plants are as medicines in various traditional
medicinal system (Gyanendra Tripathi1 2017).

Natural dyes Plant Origin have been used for the extraction of a majority of natural dyes.
Various plant parts including roots, leaves, twigs, stems, heartwood, bark, wood shavings,
flowers, fruits, rinds, hulls, husks, and the like serve as natural dye sources (Raja 2014). Insects
were the main source of natural dyes of animal origin and most of these provided red colors.
Some mineral pigments found in nature such as cinnabar, red ocher, yellow ocher, raw sienna,
malachite, ultramarine blue, azurite, gypsum, talc, charcoal black, and so on, have been used for
coloration purposes.

5
2.2.2 1 Production Techniques for Natural Dyes
Unlike synthetic dyes, which are synthesized from chemical precursors, natural dyes are mostly
obtained from various plant parts. These plant materials cannot be directly used for dyeing
textiles. Also, many plant materials such as flowers and fruits are seasonal and contain a large
amount of water and hence cannot be stored as such. Therefore, in order to make them suitable
for textile dyeing purposes and to make them available throughout the year, these are subjected
to some processing operations.

Collected plant materials are first dried: either in shade or in a hot air drier at a low temperature
of about 40–50 0C to reduce their water content to about 10–15 % or less. Many materials can
also be sun dried. Dried material is then powdered in a pulverizer to reduce particle size and to
facilitate better dye extraction. These powdered and dried materials in most cases can be stored
in airtight bags and containers for at least a year and can be used for dyeing whenever required.
Storage under nitrogen can further prolong their shelf-life.

2.2.2.2 Extraction Methods

As natural dye-bearing materials contain only a small percentage of coloring matter or dye along
with a number of other plant and animal constituents such as water-insoluble fibers,
carbohydrates, protein, chlorophyll, and tannins, among others, extraction is an essential step not
only for preparing purified natural dyes but is also required to be carried out by users of crude
dye-bearing materials. As natural colouring materials are not a single chemical entity and the
plant matrix also contains a variety of nondye plant constituents, extraction of natural dyes is a
complex process. The nature and solubility characteristics of the colouring materials need to be
ascertained before employing an extraction process. The different methods for extraction of
colouring materials are:
 Aqueous extraction  Fermentation
 Alkali or acid extraction  Enzymatic extraction
 Microwave and ultrasonic assisted  Solvent extraction
extraction  Super critical fluid extraction

6
2.2.2. 3 Dyeing methods of natural dye
Dyes are used for coloring the fabrics. Dyeing is a method which imparts beauty to the textile by
applying various colors and their shades on to a fabric. Dyeing can be done at any stage of the
manufacturing of textile- fiber, yarn, fabric or a finished textile product including garments and
apparels. The property of color fastness depends upon two factors- selection of proper dye
according to the textile material to be dyed and selection of the method for dyeing the fiber, yarn
or fabric According to (Gyanendra Tripathi1 2017) the dyeing process of cotton was carried out
in three stages. These are extraction of dye from the plant source, mordanting and dyeing.

2.2.1 Dyeing of cotton fabric with natural dyes

There is a standard recipe-based dyeing process for dyeing of cotton fibre/yarn/ fabric. The
important pretreatments before dyeing are desizing (acid desizing or enzyme desizing), scouring
(sodium hydroxide and auxiliaries) and bleaching with hydrogen peroxide (H 2O2). The fully
pretreated fabric free from all impurities and absorbent is premordanted. After mordanting the
mordanted fabric is passed through aqueous solution of natural dyes. The dyeing parameters will
be (Gupta 2011):
Dyeing time = 60–120 min. (depends on depth % of shade)
Temperature of dyeing = 70–100°C
M: L ratio of the bath = 1:20–1:30
Amount of dye in bath = 10–50% (on weight of the material)
Common salt = 5–20 g/l
pH of the dye bath = 10–11
After dyeing, soaping treatment is given to remove any residual/unreacted dyes and auxiliary
chemicals from the surface of the fabric.

2.3 Mordants
Mordant is a Latin word meaning „to bite‟. Mordants act as „fixing agents‟ to improve the colour
fastness of some acid dyes, which have the ability to form complexes with metal ions. Mordants
are essentially substances which are used to fix a dye to the fibres; they also improve the take-up
quality of the fabric and help improve colour and light-fastness. Mordants are usually metallic
salt of aluminium, chromium, iron, copper and tin, as well as other substance such as tanning

7
agents. Mordants found in nature include wood ash, stale urine and acidic fruits extracts such as
lime (Ding and Freeman 2017). The use of mordant in dyeing not only increase the dye take up
and colour fastness but the use of different mordant on a natural dye can yield different colours
and shades. Mordants are used for fixation of the dyestuff, increasing the fastness properties or
variation in the color appearance. This last effect can be a desired effect as well as an unwanted
phenomenon (Kampeerapappun et al. 2010).

2.3.1 Importance of mordants

Textile fibers, especially cellulosics, do not have much affinity for the majority of the natural
dyes; hence these are subjected to an additional step known as mordanting. Mordants are the
substances that have affinity for both textile fibers and dyes, thus they act as a link between the
fiber and dyestuff. Those dyes that do not have affinity for a fiber can be applied by using
mordants. In the case of dyes having affinity for the fiber, the use of mordants increases the
fastness properties by forming an insoluble complex of the dye and the mordant within the fibers,
which also improves the color.

It is known that natural dyes need metal ion for fixing the dye to the fiber by forming an
insoluble composition precipitate on the surface of fiber and this is the role of metallic mordant
ion which gives a range of bright colors depending on the type of metal ion used (Elnagar, Tera,
and Mohamed 2012).

Figure 2:3 The complex mechanism of cellulose fibers and dyes with ion metal

8
2.3.2 Types of mordant
There are three types of mordants, namely metal salts or metallic mordants, oil mordants, and
tannins.

2.3.3 Mordanting process

A mordant is a dye fixative and able to use for dyeing fabrics with natural dyes. The natural dyes
have no substantivity to the cotton (due to the absence of amino and carboxyl groups that provide
attachment sites to dye molecules). Three types of mordanting techniques named pre-
mordanting, metamordanting, and post-mordanting commonly used for the coloration of textile
substrate with natural dyes. In pre-mordanting the substrate is treated with the mordant, and then
dyed, in Meta mordanting, the mordant is added to the dye bath itself, and in postmordanting, the
dyed material is treated with the mordant (Nurunnesa 2018).

2.4 Eucalyptus
The coloring components of eucalyptus leaves are described in the literature as flavonoids
(yellow compounds) and tannins. This yellow colorant and also tannin essentially enhances light
absorption in the visible region of spectrum by reacting with the salts of complex-forming
metals. Eucalyptus leaves contain tannins, phenolic acid, flavonoids, sesquiterpenes, aldehydes
and ketones that can be subdivided into two groups: hydrocarbons which are made up of terpenes
and oxygenated compounds which are mainly alcohols, aldehydes such as esters, ketones,
phenols and oxides. The chemical structure of the Eucalyptus is shown in (Figure 2.3) (Silva et
al. 2018).

Figure 2.3 Color composition of eucalyptus leaves extract

9
2.5 Onion skin
The skin of onion is not edible and considered as wastage. However, it contains a coloring
pigment called “Pelargonidin” (tetrahydroxyantocy anidol). The amount of this coloring pigment
is found to be 2.25%, and the structural formula of it has shown in Figure2:4.

Figure 2:4 Structural formula of Pelargonidin

The outer skin of onion (Allium cepa) which is generally thrown away as waste can be used to
extract yellow color natural dye. The dye is flavonoid in chemical constitution, and produces
bright colors on wool and silk. Cotton can be dyed with suitable mordant (Raja 2014).

2.6 Literature gaps

1. Some examples of natural dyes are obtained from various sources such as tea leave, onion
skin, eucalyptus leaf, law sone, and burberine.etc However, there is no work reported on the use
of combination of onion skin and eucalyptus leaf as a natural dye in textile application.
2. Using natural dyes in textile processing have been shown a greater interest because they are
more-eco-friendly than synthetic dye and show a variety of colors from one natural dye
depending on dyeing process and types of mordants.
3. Most types of fibers can be dyed with natural dyes; nevertheless, the depths of color and
fastness of dyed fabrics with combination of the two are varied.

10
 CHAPTER THREE
MATERIAL AND METHODS
3.1 Materials and chemicals
Materials: Onion skin and eucalyptus leaf were used as a source of natural dye soft water used
as a solvent for extraction. 100% pretreated cotton fabric was used to dyeing.
Chemicals: Alum, wetting agent, EDTA, sodium hydroxide and sodium chloride were used as
auxiliary chemicals.
Equipments: Water bath, stove, oven dryer, auto washer, Grinding machine, crock meter,
thermometer, universal pH indicator, spectrophotometer and filter paper were the main
equipments we have used to do this research.

3.1 Preparation of dyeing material eucalyptus and onion skin

The selected dye source material onion skin and eucalyptus were collected at wollo
university kombolcha technology institute compound. Eucalyptus and onion skin was used
as a source of natural dye. The material was collected and washed with tape water and dried in
shade dry until a constant weight record, finely powdered with the help of a grinding machine.

Collect Washing Drying Grinding

Figure 3:1 Preparation of eucalyptus

Collect Washing Drying Grinding

Figure 3:2 Preparation of onion skin

11
3.2 Extraction of dye
The extraction of the dye was carried using water bath apparatus keeping distilled water as
solvent. 300 ml of distilled water was used for 20g of powdered material for each. The material
was kept in the bath for 6hrs at 95°C.

Immersion of powder Extraction Filtration

in a soft water
Figure 3:3 Extraction and filtration of dye

3.3 Mordanting
Alum (KAl (SO4)2•12 H2O) was used as mordanting agent and pre-mordanting (mordanting
before dyeing), process was used. The fabric first desized and scoured fabrics treat with mordant
and then dye using extract of materials (eucalyptus and onion skin). The fabrics were treated
with a 6% mordant in the 1:20 M: L ratio for 45 minutes at 80 oC. Then the mordanted fabric
used for dyeing.

3.4 Dyeing
The experiments were performed at 800C and for 60 min with the ratio of eucalyptus to onion
skill extract (50:50) and MLR 1:40 but at different concentration to optimize concentration
which has gave best colour shade.

Table 3:1 Effect of dye concentration

Sample code Dye concentration (%) Mordant concentration (%)
S1 40 6
S2 60 6
S3 80 6
S4 100 6

12
 Figure 3:4 Preparations of dye solutions

Table 3:2 Effects of mordant concentration on dyeability

Sample code Dye concentration (%) Mordant concentration (%)
S4 100 6
S5 100 5
S6 100 7

3.4 Colour measurement of dyed fabric

The colour measurement values of reflectance of dyed samples were measured on a Gretag
Macbeth (USA) E700 instrument (D65/10º) and the colour yield expressed as K/S of dyed
samples were calculated using the Kubelka-Munk equation (Zubairu 2015).
( )

Figure 3:5 Spectrophotometer

3.5 Colour fastness of dyed fabric
The term is usually used in the context of clothes. In general, clothing should be tested for colour
fastness before using bleach or other cleaning products. Light fastness, wash fastness,
and rub fastness are the main forms of colour fastness that are standardized. The light fastness of
textile dye is categorized from one to eight and the wash fastness from one to five, with a higher
the number indicating better fastness.

13
3.5.1 Washing fastness
Dyed sample was placed between two pieces of dyed white sample. These three piachees were
hold together by stitching round the edges. The pre heated soap solution (Tide, at 60⁰C) in the
ratio of 1:50 i.e. 0.5g/25 mL water, was taken in a vessel added 1.0 g of sandwiched fabric for 30
minutes Then the specimen was removed and rinsed in cold water. The colour fastness is usually
rated by the presence of the colour in control sample.

3.5.2 Rubbing fastness

The rub fastness of the dyed fabrics was carried out by rubbing the fabrics manually and
checking for fading of color by using of crock meter.

3.5.3 Light fastness

The fabric was exposed to sunlight for 24 hour. The color fastness top light will evaporated by
coloration of color change of the exposed portion to unexposed original material (Tripathi 2017).

Figure 3:6 Light fastness test

14
 CHAPTER FOUR
RESULT AND DISCTION
4.1 Dye yields
The percentage yield of crude dye was calculated (using equation 1) as depicted in the
methodology part in relation to the original weight of dye material used for extraction. The
average yield of eucalyptus was 25.3% and onion skin 19.48%. Comparatively eucalyptus leaf
extracted had higher yield than onion skin extracted at the same extraction methods and
parameters.

4.2 Characteristics of dyed fabric

The shades produced by combination of onion skin and eucalyptus extracted dyes/colourants are
shows soft, lustrous and soothing to the human eye and it gives different shade depth at different
concentration.

Undyed S1 S2 S3

S4 S5 S6

Figure 4:1 Dyed and undyed fabric

4.2.1 Colour strength

The dye uptake (K/S) results indicated that dye material used for cotton dyeing have
considerable potential for dye ability on combination of natural dyes.

15
 Table 4:1 Effect of dye concentration
Sample Dye Mordant (k/s) at Wash fastness Rubbing Light
code concentration concentration 460nm fastness fastness
(%) (%) Dry wet
S1 40 6 0.505 4/5 5 4/5 4
S2 60 6 0.788 5 5 4/5 4
S3 80 6 0.971 4/5 4/5 4 4
S4 100 6 1.785 4/5 4/5 4/5 4

Table 4:2 Effects of mordant concentration on dyeability

Sample Dye Mordant (k/s) at Wash Rubbing Light
code concentration concentration 460nm fastness fastness fastness
(%) (%) Dry wet
S4 100 6 1.785 4/5 4/5 4/5 4
S5 100 5 0.601 4/5 4/5 5 4
S6 100 7 1.356 5 4/5 4 4

4.2.1 Colour fastness

Color fastness is the resistance of a material to change in any of its colour characteristics, to the
transfer of its colourants to adjacent materials or both. Fading means that the change of colour
strength (lightening or darkening) on washing or rubbing or in contact with human perspiration
or on exposure to light. In cotton fabric washing fastness grades of color change recorded Good
(4), Good to Excellent (4/5) and excellent (5) grades. Light fastness grades recorded good (4)
and excellent (5) grades. However, grades of rubbing fastness recorded good (4), good to
excellent (4/5) and excellent (5) grades (Syed 2013,).

4.2.1.1 Wash fastness of dyed fabric

Wash fastness of the dye is influenced by the rate of diffusion of the dye and state of the dye
inside the fiber. The dye extracted from onion skin and eucalyptus exhibits excellent washing
fastness. Complexing with mordant has the effect of insolubilizing the dye, making it colour fast.

Figure 4:2 Wash fastness tested fabric

16
4.2.1.2 Rubbing fastness
Good and excellent rub fastness was exhibited by the fibers dyed using the dye extracted from
the onion skin and eucalyptus leaf. Complexing the fiber with mordant has the effect of
insolubilizing the dye, making it color fast. The fabrics dyed with onion skin and eucalyptus leaf
exhibit good fastness properties.

4.2.1.3 Light fastness

Good light fastness was observed in fabrics dyed with the dye extracted from onion skin and
eucalyptus leaf (Fig 4:2). This is due to the formation of complex with the metal which protects
the chromatophore from photolytic degradation. The lower grade of light fastness implies that metal
ligand chealates formed by the mordant are not much resistant to photo degradation

Figure 4:2 Light fastness tested fabric

17
 CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion
Cotton fabric was successfully dyed with natural dye extracted from onion skin and eucalyptus
leaf plant in the presence mordant. It was found from the study that the combination of onion
skin and eucalyptus leaf plant extracted dye can be successfully used for dyeing of cotton in the
presence of mordants. The results and observations indicate that they have a yellow color shade.
When the dye concentration and mordant concentration increase the shade depth/ colour strength
also increase in the range keep other parameter constant With regards to color fastness, test
samples exhibited excellent fastness to washing, excellent fastness to rubbing and light fastness.
The extracted dye is eco-friendly and biodegradable, having no health hazard effects and eco-
label. The onion skin and eucalyptus leaf plant used as natural colorant are easily available in
Ethiopia which makes the raw material cheap.

5.2 Recommendation
In understanding of the results of the study the following are recommended for attention.
 The textile researcher and industry use the results of our study as resource material for dyeing
of cotton fabrics.
 The research institute should coordinate with small and medium enterprises to make their
knowledge, expertise and documentation on local plants available to train dyers to identify
and process them into dyes.
 Jobless people could explore, extract and apply the plant dyes to their business work.

18
5.3 Future scope of work
 The developed technology can be shifted to the enterprise manufacturing and transferred
to the business for commercialization.
 The combination of onion skin and eucalyptus leaf extracts can be applied on other types
of natural as well as synthetic fabric.
 Study dyeability of the extracted dye by using other types of mordants

5.4 Limitations
 The dye component could not identify/quantify due to inaccessibility of standards.
 There are many extraction solvents, but in present study only soft water is used.
 In this project work only one types of mordant is used to study the dyeability of
combination of onion skin and eucalyptus leaf extracted components.

19
 REFERENCE
Chequer, FM Drumond, Gisele Augusto Rodrigues de Oliveira, ER Anastacio Ferraz, Juliano
Carvalho Cardoso, MV Boldrin Zanoni, and Danielle Palma de Oliveira. 2013. "Textile
dyes: dyeing process and environmental impact." Eco-friendly textile dyeing and
finishing no. 6:151-176.
Ding, Yi, and Harold S Freeman. 2017. "Mordant dye application on cotton: optimisation and
combination with natural dyes." Coloration Technology no. 133 (5):369-375.
Elnagar, Khaled Ebrahim, erial Mahmoud era, and M Mohamed. 2012. yeability and
Light- astness Properties of nion cale ye on ifferent abric ypes for
Conservation Applications." Journal of Textile and Apparel, Technology and
Management no. 7 (3).
Gupta, Virendra Kumar. 2011. "Fundamentals of Natural Dyes and Its Application on Textile
Substrates." Journal of Chemistry and Technology of Natural and Synthetic Dyes and
Pigments no. 102011.
Gyanendra Tripathi1, Mukesh Kumar Yadav2*, Yogesh Kumar Tiwari3. 2017. "Cotton fabric
dyeing process from Eucalyptus camaldulensis leave‟s natural dye. International Journal
of ChemTech Research no. 10:79-82.
Kampeerapappun, Piyaporn, Trongsu Phattararittigul, Sutida Jittrong, and Dararat Kullachod.
2010. "Effect of chitosan and mordants on dyeability of cotton fabrics with Ruellia
tuberosa Linn." Chiang Mai Journal of Science no. 38 (1):95-104.
Nurunnesa, Md Alamgir Hossain, Md. 2018. "Extraction of Natural Dye Collected from Outer
Skin of Onion and Its Application on Silk Fabric." Global Journal of Research In
Engineering.
Raja, Sujata Saxena and A. S. M. 2014. "Natural Dyes: Sources, Chemistry, Application and
Sustainability Issues." Springer Scienc no. 2.
Silva, MArcia Gomes, Nivea Tais Vila, Alexandre Jos Sousa Ferreira, Andreia Bortoluzzi da
Silva, Pedro Augusto Arroyo, and Maria Anglica SD de Barros. 2018. "Natural Dyeing of
Silk with Eucalyptus Leaves Extract." Global Journal of Research In Engineering.
Syed, Shoukat Ara, Naseer A.Mir, S. J. A. Bhat, P.K. Mishra, Hameed O. M, Gazala Qazi.
2013,. "Natural dyeing of fabrics using Quercus robur L. (fruit cups) dye and Punica
granatum L. (peel) mordant." The Journal of Phytopharmacology no. 2:52-58.

20
Tripathi, Gyanendra Yadav, Mukesh Kumar Tiwari, Yogesh Kumar. 2017. "Cotton fabric dyeing
process from natural dye." International Journal of ChemTech Research no. 10 (9):79-82.
Zubairu, Abdu Mshelia, Yusuf Madu. 2015. "Effects of selected mordants on the application of
natural dye from onion skin (Allium cepa)." Science and Technology no. 5 (2):26-32.

21