Durability, Antimicrobial Activity and HPLC Analysis of Dyed Silk Fabrics Using Madder and Gall Oak

In this study, silk fabrics were dyed with madder (Rubia tinctorium L.) and gall oak (Quercus infectoria Olivier). One fabric was dyed only with madder and the other four fabrics were dyed with both plants by keeping madder percentage constant. After the dyeing procedure, silk fabrics dyed were characterized according to different of analysis involve antimicrobial activity testing, dyestuff analysis, and color measurement. Dyestuff analysis was performed by HPLC-DAD and color measurement was done using CIELAB spectrophotometer. Antimicrobial activity test was carried out against gram-positive and gram-negative using Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538) as Gram-positive bacterium and Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) as Gram-negative bacterium. Gall oak containing dyeings performed better in antimicrobial activity tests and selected silk fabric was subjected to durability test. It was laundered five times under same conditions and after each laundering procedure, a large piece of fabric in a certain size was cut for durability test. These silk fabrics retained nearly 100% activity up to five launderings against S.aureus and E.coli.