Easy Care Finishing of Knitted Cotton Fabric in Presence of a Reactive-type Antibacterial Agent

Abstract

Antibacterial easy care finishing of knitted cotton fabric is achieved by incorporation of Sanitized® T99-19, as a reactive antibacterial agent, in the easy care finishing formulation. Finishing is carried out using different types of softeners and catalysts as well as concentrations of reagents, curing time and temperature. In addition to Sanitized® T99-19, optimal finishing formulation, that can provide the fabric good antibacterial (against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and hydrophilic properties by the pad (100% wet pick-up)-dry (100°C per 5 min)-cure (160°C per 3 min) method can be summarized as follows: `Arkofix ®NG-ET crosslinker (75g/L), ZnSO4 (7.5 g/L), Siligen ® TX2490 softener (20 g/L), acetic acid (1 g/L) and a nonionic wetting agent (2 g/L)'. Finishing the fabric with this formulation in presence of 5 g/L of Sanitized® T99-19 results in decreasing its whiteness index, surface roughness, air permeability, and breaking extension about 5, 4, 7.5, 1, and 19%, respectively, and enhances its dry crease recovery angle about 19%. Analysis of variance of data obtained is carried out at P-value ≤ 0.05. Fabric finished using recipe I (Sanitized® T99-19 alone), recipe II (Sanitized® T99-19 with Siligen ® TX2490) or recipe III (Sanitized® T99-19 and Siligen ® TX2490 with Arkofix® NG-ET) manifests inhibition clear zones towards Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa a bacteria, as a result of the physically bound portion of `dimethyl-tetradecyl-[3(trimethoxysilane-propyl] ammonium chloride (active ingredient of Sanitized® T99-19) and/or its adduct with Arkofix® NG-ET' that leaches out of the fabric. However, this portion cannot tolerate repeated laundering up to 10 cycles. Finishing the fabric using Sanitized® T99-19 at a concentration of 5 g/L can acquire the fabric very high values of reduction in bacterial count even after 25 washing cycles, regardless of treatment recipe. Below 5 g/L in recipe III, the fabric fails to manifest total reduction in bacterial count after 10 washing cycles. Reduction in bacterial count is remarkably improved by increasing the concentration from 5 to 10 g/L in recipe III, regardless of washing cycles.