Title
Sonication and conventional dyeing procedures of flax fibres with Allium cepa anthocyanin extract
Authors
DIANA COMAN SIMONA OANCEA NARCISA VRINCEANU and MIHAELA STOIA

Received March 9, 2013
Published Volume 48 Issue 1-2 January-February
Keywords flax textile support, anthocyanin extract, morphology, natural dye, ultrasonication, colour fastness

Abstract
The aim of this paper was to improve the dyeability of flax fibre substrates by a previous modification via their grafting and explore the mechanism of such an improvement.
The comparative results of the dyeing efficiency of grafted flax fabrics, using both ultrasound and conventional dyeing methods, are presented. The dyeing process involved the use of a natural red dye extracted from red onion (Allium cepa). Morphological, structural and chemical properties of the obtained samples were examined, in terms of a co assisted investigation system: scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images for the morphology and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis for surface composition.
The obtained results showed the superiority of sonication dyeing over the conventional dyeing procedure. Moreover, the research emphasizes the idea of the mesoporosity of the inclusion complex formed by encapsulating dye molecules inside the cavity of monochlorotriazinyl-β-cyclodextrin (MCT-β-CD).