Authors Pradhan, S., Fatima, N. and Sharma, E.,
Printing, as an art, originated a few thousand years ago and its development continues till date. In this fast-changing world, printing is most important of all the processes used at present to decorate textile materials. With the use of synthetic thickener in printing industry many of the harmful effects are produced in the environment and to reduce this effect an environment friendly thickener can be used. Natural thickeners being widely distributed throughout the plant kingdom, they are easily available and present in abundance. As the ingredients of natural thickener are purely natural, they are non-allergic and non-toxic to our body and cause no health hazard. Aloe vera gel possesses some biological activities such as promotion of wound healing, antifungal activity, hypoglycemic or anti-diabetic effects, as well as anti-inflammatory, anticancer and gastro protective properties. The gel is a viscous, colorless, transparent gel. With all these properties aloe vera gel can be used as a printing thickener for cotton fabric which will not produce any harmful effect on human body which synthetic thickener may produce It is concluded that aloe vera thickener with 4g reactive dye gave best results. In case of reactive dye after treatment with 10% vinegar for 5minutes gave best result. Physical properties, drape, crease recovery, thickness, stiffness of all printed and treated samples showed good results. Color fastness properties were also found to be satisfactory. All the articles printed and treated with optimized recipes were highly appreciated as these were cost effective.
