Eco-friendly Sustainable Dyeing of Lycra Viscose Fabric with Allium sativum Using Natural and Metal Mordants

Due to its many practical advantages and positive effects on the environment, sustainable dyeing using natural substances has drawn increased attention. Based on the sustainability of the extraction of natural dyestuff from garlic (Allium sativum), the coloration of lycra viscose fabric was investigated; the ideal dye extraction conditions were as follows: an M:L ratio of 1:3, a temperature of 80 °C, and a duration of 30 min. For viscose fabric, several dyeing processes were performed utilizing natural mordants, such as orange peel and lemon peel, as well as commonly used tannic acid, copper sulfate, and ferrous sulfate with various mordanting ratios. In the entire experiment, for the first time, only one type of mordanting procedure (pre-mordanting) was used to determine the optimal outcomes of the mordants and to provide a comparison of their performances. The results revealed that viscose fabric dyeing using a pre-mordanting method with 5% orange peel as a natural mordant exhibited improved performance and higher outcomes than the other mordants. Different measurement techniques were used to determine the CIELab outputs, and a color strength (K/S) attribute experiment was used to determine the optimal value. The results from the FTIR study verified that the colored particles interacted with the viscose fabric. In addition, the results from the SEM analysis confirmed the ability of the dye to absorb into the viscose fabric surface. The elemental mapping and EDX spectra also confirmed the presence of the dye particles on the surface of the dyed fabric. In addition, the color-fastness characteristics had satisfactory fastness ratings of 4–5 for rubbing, 4–5 for washing, and 4–5 for light performance with the metal mordants. To address the actual need for viscose fabric coloration and function in clothing manufacturing, garlic (Allium sativum) dyeing of viscose fabric is a very promising alternative option to synthetic dyestuff.