Green Dyeing of Silk Fabrics in the Presence of Pomegranate Extract as Natural Mordant

An ecological approach has been obtained by using natural dyes and mordants for dyeing process. Silk fabrics were dyed using natural mordants including powder of sour pomegranate, sweet pomegranate and their mixture. A beautiful red color was obtained using theses mordants. The color of dyed silk fabrics was investigated in CIELab (L*, a* and b*) and K/S values. Finally, all dyed fabrics were tested for wash and light fastness properties as per ISO standard test methods. The results of using biomordants for silk dyeing were comparable with that of metallic mordants in terms of color strength and fastness properties. Pomegranate extract as biomordant produced red color with medium fastness properties and thus offer full potential to replace metal salts in silk dyeing process.