Application of rare earth as mordant for the dyeing of ramie fabrics with natural dyes

Selecting appropriate metallic compounds as mordants is essential for dyeing with natural dyes. This paper presents the application of rare earth compounds as mordant for the dyeing of ramie fabrics with four kinds of natural dyes. The influences of pre-mordanting, simultaneous mordanting, and post-mordanting on the dyeing effect were explored. The post-mordanting was proved to give rise to the highest dye uptake. The effects of dyeing conditions including dyeing temperature and time, dyeing bath pH and the concentration of rare earth on the dye uptake were investigated systematically. The fabrics dyed with natural dyes in presence of rare earth as mordant exhibited high color shade stability in the baths with pH varying from being acidic to neutral and alkaline. Employing rare earth as mordant apparently raised the color fastness to washing, rubbing and light of the ramie fabrics dyed with the natural extracts. In comparison with the commonly used metallic salts, using rare earth chlorides as mordants can greatly reduce the ionic concentration employed in natural dyeing. This study proved that rare earth would be a kind or promising environmentally friendly mordant in natural dyeing.