Antimicrobial property of functional viscose fibre by using mint extract

Abstract

The use of cellulosic fibres treated with natural extracts can kill bacteria. Viscose is a regenerated cellulosic fibre with excellent biodegradability. The use of mint extract makes viscose a functional fibre, which gives beneficial results and can be used as an antimicrobial textile. The results clearly showed that the increasing ratio of the mint extract also increased the bacteriostatic ratio so that the antimicrobial property against E. Coli and S. Aureus for 100% viscose fabric is 97% and 94%, respectively. The bacteriostatic ratio against 50/50 cotton/functional viscose is proportionally lower, i.e., 85% and 81% against E. Coli and S. Aureus. The different number of washings affected the antimicrobial property of the fabrics in such a way that: the fabric with 100% functional viscose indicated a reduction of 14% for E. Coli, whereas the antimicrobial property decreased by 15% against S. Aureus after 5 to 20 washes as compared to the fabric with the blend 50/50. All the samples exhibited antimicrobial property more than 60% after 20 washes. The breaking strength of the functional viscose fibre decreased by about 12.9% in dry form and 14% in wet state compared with standard viscose fibre. However, the elongation of functional viscose fibre improved by 6.4% in dry form and 3.7% in the wet state, resulting in the low modulus of functional viscose fibre. The mosquito repellency rate ranges from 70–90% against 100% functional viscose fabrics, whereas 60–80% against the fabric is made up of a 50/50 blend for 5 to 20 washes. The overall results show acceptable behaviour against mosquito repellency. A simple approach was applied to develop antimicrobial textile products with cost-effectiveness and fruitful results.