Abstract
The influence of process conditions on the level and quality of silk degumming has been studied extensively using two factors by the researchers. In this work, the effect of four process conditions viz. time, temperature, soap concentration and soda concentration in degumming process, being adopted in the silk handloom industry, has been studied on Indian bivoltine silk with respect to degumming loss %, whiteness index and yellowness index using Box-Behnken design of experiments. It is found that the temperature and soda concentration significantly influence the three responses studied. Soap concentration is found to influence whiteness index and yellowness index. The optimum process conditions have been set to obtain the desirable degumming loss percentage. (* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +91 44 27277583, 27230499. Fax: +91 44 27277583 , E Mail: kmakhadir@Yahoo.com)
