Utilization of biopolymer in resist printing of linen fabrics using reactive dyes

A novel utilization of chitosan as a cationic biopolymer in the chemical resist printing of linen fabrics and its polyester blend using reactive dyes. The effects of ratio and concentration of various resist-printing agents and processing conditions are observed and discussed. The concentration of chitosan, type of resist agent, and the ratio of chitosan to resist agent were varied to determine their effects on the efficiency of resist-printing. Regardless of the type of fabric, the resist effect on printed fabrics expressed as %decrease in K/S was obtained at optimal chitosan concentration of 1% with a mixture of chitosan/maleic acid as a resist salt at a ratio of 25:75. Thus, chitosan can be used pure or in admixture with different resist salts successfully in chemical resist printing. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.