Studies of durability and effect on material properties of different antibacterial products

Fabric treatments imparting bactericide characteristics are highly desired by the apparel, home furnishings, and medical industries. However, conventional processes used to impart such characteristics have a major drawback. That is, these effects are not permanent and the properties of the material may be altered. Laundering or wearing of the treated fabric causes leaching or erosion of the agents responsible for imparting the desired characteristics. This problem has resulted in research efforts to develop durable treatments. This includes microencapsulated active agents that operate by controlled release such as silver salts, oxidising agents, reducing agents, and various types of antibacterial products. Another possibility is to use of graft polymers, homopolymers, and/ or copolymerization on to the fibre of antibacterial properties, or by chemical modification of the fibre by formation of covalent bonds with quaternary ammonium salts having expected bactericide properties. This work aimed at binding to the textile fibres active components that are expected to have anti-microbial activity. In this work the components tested were respectively: a microencapsulated anti-bacterial product, a microcapsule with a grafted quaternary ammonium salt, and a soluble quaternary ammonium salt covalently linked to the fibre. The efficiency of microencapsulation and the release of the antibacterial product was evaluated by anti-bacterial activity. The microcapsule with a quaternary ammonium salt grafted to its wall, and the soluble quaternary ammonium salt, were applied by exhaustion and impregnation methods. The efficiency of the process was evaluated by anti-bacterial activity and in the case of the soluble product, Nitrogen content was also determined. The microcapsules were also applied by spraying and by impregnation. For application to nonwovens, such as those used in filters and insulation, other problems are fixation of microcapsules into a structure that cannot be handled the same way as a fabric in finishing and maintaining original characteristics of the material. To these structures, microcapsules were applied by spraying and impregnation, and properties such as air and vapour permeability were evaluated after application. The durability of the microcapsules were evaluated with standard washing and dry cleaning tests