Polyacrylic Acid and Chitosan Treatments on Silk Fabric for Protection Enhancements

Abstract

Silk is utilized as most valuable fibers based on the unique properties like shiny sheen, remarkable comfort performance and bio considerations. Silk materials possess high applications as a natural substrate in the textile/garment industry and as a bio component in the medical applications. As silk is fine, delicate and sensitive it needs more care to protect from the ill effects of insects, light and chemicals. Hence, in this work an attempt is carried out on silk fabric by treatment with polyacrylic acid and chitosan followed by dyeing using few natural dyes and one synthetic reactive dye and subsequently subjected for different tests towards physical properties, colorimetric and fastness properties, low stress mechanical properties, antimicrobial and uv protection properties, SEM and XRD studies. The results of these tests give very good improvement of the protection behavior on the silk fabric suitable for the garments and other end use products.