Dyeing of Silk Fabric with Soaked Phaseolus Vulgaris (Red kidney bean) Extract

With the rising awareness of sustainability, eco-friendly dyes are preferred over synthetic dyes and chemicals. In our day-to-day life, many natural ingredients have colorant substances but are discarded without efficient use. Similarly, the seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris (Red Kidney Beans) release colorant substances when soaked in water or boiled, but the water is drained out or discarded. The present work aimed to utilize the above extract in a sustainable way. So, an attempt is made to dye the silk fabric with the colorant extract with various mordants at different temperatures. The colorant was extracted by soaking Red Kidney Beans for 3 hours and further boiling it for 20 minutes at 100ºC. Degummed and bleached Mulberry silk fabric was dyed with the colorant extract at 90-95ºC and pH [3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5] for 45 minutes. Dyed fabric samples were tested for color strength using color i7 Spectrophotometer. Also, the dyed fabric samples were tested for different color fastness properties (colourfastness to washing, water, rubbing, light etc.) and mechanical properties (thickness, bending length, flexural rigidity, crease recovery). Satisfactory results were found. Thus, the implications of the research show a promising future for dying of silk fabric with a sustainable approach.