Abstract
Recent days, various inner wears, sheets and interior goods are manufactured using materials dyed with loess emphasizing its improved blood circulation, metabolism, anti-bacterial, deodorizing properties, and far-infrared ray emissions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of chitosan treatment on the dyeing of cotton fabric using loess as colorants. Particle size of loess, the morphology and dyeability(K/S) of chitosan crosslinked cotton fabrics, and washing durability of loess dyed cotton fabric were investigated. In this study, cotton fabrics were treated with a crosslinking agent, epichlorohydrin, in the presence of chitosan to improve the dyeing properties of cotton fabrics with natural dye by the chemical linking of chitosan to the cellulose structure. This process was applied by means of the conventional mercerizing process. The results obtained were as follows; Mean average diameter of loess was $1.13{\mu}m$. According to various conditions, the optimum dyeing conditions for cotton fabrics pretreated by 1% chitosan treatment was where 10%(owb) of loess was applied at $90^{\circ}C$ for 120minutes, while for cotton fabrics without chitosan treatment was where 15%(owb) of loess was applied at $90^{\circ}C$ for 150minutes. Overall, K/S value of loess dyed cotton fabric pretreated with 1% chitosan was higher than that of cotton fabrics without chitosan treatment. The Color fastness, washing fastness and light fastness of loess were excellent as 4-5grade.
