Antimicrobial protection of cotton and cotton/polyester fabrics by radiation and thermal treatments. I. Effect of ZnO formulation on the mechanical and dyeing properties

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Cotton and cotton/polyester fabrics were treated against microbial attack by applying a formulation based essentially on ZnO under high-energy radiation and thermal curing. To achieve the homogeneity and the reactivity of the treating formulation, a binder (Impron MTP) and a dispersing agent (Setamol WS) were used with ZnO. The antimicrobial property of the fabrics was evaluated, in terms of mechanical properties, by a soil burial test. Moreover, the effect of antimicrobial finishing on the dyeing properties in terms of color strength was investigated. It was found that the best composition that affords the best antimicrobial protection to cotton fabrics contains 2% ZnO, 2% binder, and 1% dispersing agents. For the cotton/polyester blend, the best results were achieved at the same conditions except the ZnO was 1%. It was found that the treatment under the effect of electron-beam irradiation is better than that of gamma irradiation and thermal curing. The results showed that when the finishing process was carried out before dyeing with a reactive dye, it affects the color strength rather than performing the finishing after the dyeing process.

Antimicrobial activity of nanocomposites: poly(amide) 6 and low density poly(ethylene) filled with zinc oxide

“…Potential fields of application include, for instance, textile [1,2], packaging [3] or medical devices to prevent nosocomial infections [4]. The role of antimicrobial packaging materials is to extend the lag period and reduce the growth rate of micro-organisms to expand for instance the shelf life of packaged food.…”

Photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanostructured film grown by activated reactive

“…These needles measured about 400 in length and its diameter decreased from 100 nm at the base to ~ 20 nm at its tip. El-Naggar et al have deposited ZnO nanostructures on cotton and polyester fabrics by radiation and thermal treatment method [8]. The development of new products such as smart cloth requires the growth of nanostructures on cotton fabrics [5].…”

Synthesis of Nanometal Oxide–Coated Cotton Composites

“…Various methods have been developed for depositing metal oxide nanoparticles on the textiles. There are only a few methods in the literature that describe the coating of fabrics with metal oxide nanoparticles, for example, the "pad-dry-cure" method [24][25][26], radiation, and thermal chemical treatment [4,27,28]. These techniques have some disadvantages: first, they are rather complicated and involve several stages; second, a stabilizer agent is used in order to get small nanoparticles, resulting in the presence of impurities in the final products.…”