Dyeing of male silk fibers with reactive dyes

A study of the dyeing behavior of male silk fibers (obtained from silk cocoons spun by male worms) was undertaken. Normal silk (composed of filaments made by male and female worms) was also dyed for comparison purposes. Physical and chemical characteristics of silk which may affect dyeing behavior were also investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. From the results obtained in this research work, it can be concluded that male silk fibers tend to be finer than the normal silk fibers. The male silk fibers' dye uptake was tested and found to be lower than that of normal silk. Adjustment of exhaustion salt and dyeing temperature to higher levels had significant improvement on dye uptake and K/S value for male silk.