Chiang Mai Journal of Science

Surfactant-clay interaction is very important for the development of their applications in different industries. The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of modified bentonite as a promising substitute for metallic mordants in the natural dyeing process. Therefore, the domestic bentonite was modified with different surfactants types such as a non-ionic, amphiphilic, and cationic surfactant. After that, the wool fabrics were pretreated with surfactant modified bentonite and followed was dyed with madder as a natural colorants. The pretreated wool fabric samples were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), moisture regain measurement, and reflectance spectrophotometry. The SEM images of pretreated wool fabric with surfactant modified bentonite were indicated that the modified bentonite platelets were well dispersed and settled on the wool fiber surface. The average size of dispersed bentonite particles was about 0.85 mm ± 0.41. Moreover, the pretreated wool sample with PEG modified bentonite presented the highest color strength.