Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of chitosan treatment on the dyeing of cotton fabric using charcoal as colorants. Particle size of charcoal, dyeability(K/S), SEM morphology of dyed fabrics and color fastness were also investigated. In this study, cotton fabrics were treated with a crosslinking agent epichlorohydrin in the presence of chitosan to provide the cotton fabrics the dyeing properties of natural dye by the chemical linking of chitosan to the cellulose structure. The results obtained were as follows; Mean average diameter of charcoal was 1.44 ${\mu}m$. According to various conditions, the dyeing effects of 1% chitosan treatment on the dyeing of cotton fabrics using charcoal were the highest with 10%(owb) of charcoal at $90^{\circ}C$ for 120minutes and non-treatment of cotton fabrics were the highest with 15%(owb) of charcoal at $90^{\circ}C$ for 150minutes. Overall, K/S value of 1% chitosan treatment of cotton fabrics on the natural dyeing using charcoal was higher than non-treatment of cotton fabrics. It was observed the surfaces of cotton fabrics treated with chitosan were adsorbed with charcoal powders of particle size more than a non-treated chitosan fabric by SEM. The cotton fabrics were dyed with blackish gray color by charcoal gradually according to treating chitosan. The K/S value, that is indicative of dye affinity, became higher as the increase of treated chitosan concentration. The color fastness of charcoal, washing and light fastness was excellent as 4-5 grade.