Abstract
We studied the physical properties of silk fabrics after degumming, the dyeability and the color fastness of silk fabrics after degumming and sericin fixing. As the sericin was removed from silk fabrics, the rate of weight loss increased and both the abrasion resistance and the drape coefficient decreased. This means that the amount of the sericin remained in silk fabrics significantly affects the physical properties of silk fabrics. On the surface and the cross-section of silk fabrics, the silk fibers enclosed by the sericin seemed to be in a lump shape. Each fibroin strand, however, got scattered, as the process of degumming went through. The dyeability of silk fabrics degummed decreased at between 20$^{\circ}C$∼80$^{\circ}C$ the dyeing temperature, on the other hand, it significantly increased over 80$^{\circ}C$. The dyeability of the sericin-fixed silk fabrics was lower than that of the non-serin-fixed silk fabrics, to a little extent. The colorfastness of crocking in the dyed-silk fabrics was a little low and that of the sweat was much lower in a basic sweat. Especially, the colorfastness of the partially degummed silk fabrics was low, because the sericin was not stable in the condition of sweat. Therefore, the process of sericin fixing is essentially required, for the partially degummed silk fabrics and the process of degumming itself.