Colorimetric study of effect of gamma-radiation on the color of cotton fabric colored by “henna” dye

Henna is a very popular plant in many countries, including Tunisia. Henna leaves have been used for thousands of years as a medicine, as a cosmetic and also for dyeing textile fabrics. This paper investigates the color modification of cotton, which has been colored by henna, due to gamma-ray irradiation. A cotton fabric tinted by means of a henna solution is irradiated using a 60Co source at doses ranging from 0 to 25 kGy with a dose rate of 146.53 Gy/min. Decoloration of the henna dye in cotton fabrics was observed by studying variation of the L* and the h° as a function of the irradiation dose. This work reveals that cotton colored by henna can be used as a new indicator to differentiate between an unirradiated and irradiated product.