Abstract—This research studied the extraction of the natural dye from two different types of tamarind seed viz. sour-tamarind seed (TF) and sweet-tamarind seed (TO). The extracted dye solutions were prepared into a powder form and subsequently used for dyeing cotton and Bombyx Mori silk and Eri silk fabrics. From the experiment, the TF dye powder was easier soluble in water and could render a higher color strength than the TO dye powder. It was found for the tamarind-seed dyes that they could better exhausted on the silk fabrics than the cotton. Between the two silk fabrics, the dyes illustrated a higher degree of exhaustion on Bombyx Mori silk fabric than the Eri counterpart. The tamarind-seed dyes provide a reddish brown shade on the fabrics. This reddish brown shade could be altered when the dyed fabrics were put through the washing process. After washing, the shade of the dyed fabrics was more intense. The color fastness to washing of the dyed fabrics was in a good-excellent level. Even after experiencing 5-time washing, no significant shade change was observed on the dyed fabrics. The effect of mordants on the dyed fabrics was studied using three different mordants which were ZnSo₄, K₂Cr₂O₇ and FeSo₄. The ZnSo₄ mordant was found to enhance the color fastness to washing to the dyed fabrics without causing any shade change, while using K₂Cr₂O₇ as a mordant led to a shade alteration into a yellow brown but helped to stabilize the dye molecule, so such shade obtained was not sensitive to the washing condition. For the FeSo4 mordant, it also caused the shade change on the dyed fabrics to a dull grey shade but providing an excellent color fastness to washing.

Index Terms—Bombyx Mori silk, Eri silk, Cotton, Tamarind seeds, Natural dye, Mordant

S. Tepparin is with the Department of Textile Science, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand (e-mail: supaluk_ku@hotmail.com).
P. Sae-be is with the Department of Textile Science, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand (corresponding author, phone: 66-2-5625065; fax: 66-2-9428663; e-mail: porntip.s@ku.ac.th ).
J. Suesat is with the Department of Textile Science, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand (e-mail: Jantip.s@ku.ac.th ).
S. Chumrum is with the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand (e-mail:sirisin.c@ku.ac.th).
W. Hongmeng is with the Department of Textile Science, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand (e-mail: wanissarahingmeng@yahoo.com).

Cite: Supaluk Tepparin, Porntip Sae-be, Jantip Suesat, Sirisin Chumrum, and Wanissara Hongmeng, "Dyeing of Cotton, Bombyx Mori and Eri Silk Fabrics with the Natural Dye Extracted from Tamarind Seed," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 159-163, 2012.