Modification of viscose fabrics to impart permanent antimicrobial activity

Viscose fabrics have been modified to enhance the attraction for nano metal oxides, namely aluminum oxide, zinc oxide or titanium (IV) oxide, to impart antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. Viscose fabrics are pretreated with 3-bromoprpionic acid prior to loading with nano metal oxides. Optimization of the acid concentration is reported. The overall results show a unique ability to stop microorganisms growth on the viscose fabrics pretreated with 3-bromopropionic acid and after treatment with nano metal oxides. The ability of nano metal oxide treated viscose fabrics to reduce the microbial growth is found in the following order: zinc oxide > aluminum oxide > titanium (IV) oxide. The durability of antimicrobial activity has been tested after thirty wash cycles

Grafted ionomer complexes and their effect on protein adsorption on silica and polysulfone surfaces

We have studied the formation and the stability of ionomer complexes from grafted copolymers (GICs) in solution and the influence of GIC coatings on the adsorption of the proteins β-lactoglobulin (β-lac), bovine serum albumin (BSA), and lysozyme (Lsz) on silica and polysulfone. The GICs consist of the grafted copolymer PAA28-co-PAPEO22 {poly(acrylic acid)-co-poly[acrylate methoxy poly(ethylene oxide)]} with negatively charged AA and neutral APEO groups, and the positively charged homopolymers: P2MVPI43 [poly(N-methyl 2-vinyl pyridinium iodide)] and PAH∙HCl160 [poly(allylamine hydrochloride)]. In solution, these aggregates are characterized by means of dynamic and static light scattering. They appear to be assemblies with hydrodynamic radii of 8 nm (GIC-PAPEO22/P2MVPI43) and 22 nm (GIC-PAPEO22/PAH∙HCl160), respectively. The GICs partly disintegrate in solution at salt concentrations above 10 mM NaCl. Adsorption of GICs and proteins has been studied with fixed angle optical reflectometry at salt concentrations ranging from 1 to 50 mM NaCl. Adsorption of GICs results in high density PEO side chains on the surface. Higher densities were obtained for GICs consisting of PAH∙HCl160 (1.6 ÷ 1.9 chains/nm2) than of P2MVPI43 (0.6 ÷ 1.5 chains/nm2). Both GIC coatings strongly suppress adsorption of all proteins on silica (>90%); however, reduction of protein adsorption on polysulfone depends on the composition of the coating and the type of protein. We observed a moderate reduction of β-lac and Lsz adsorption (>60%). Adsorption of BSA on the GIC-PAPEO22/P2MVPI43 coating is moderately reduced, but on the GIC-PAPEO22/PAH∙HCl160 coating it is enhanced

Modification of viscose fabrics to impart permanent antimicrobial activity

25-30Viscose fabrics have been modified to enhance the attraction for nano metal oxides, namely aluminum oxide, zinc oxide or titanium (IV) oxide, to impart antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. Viscose fabrics are pretreated with 3-bromoprpionic acid prior to loading with nano metal oxides. Optimization of the acid concentration is reported. The overall results show a unique ability to stop microorganisms growth on the viscose fabrics pretreated with 3-bromopropionic acid and after treatment with nano metal oxides. The ability of nano metal oxide treated viscose fabrics to reduce the microbial growth is found in the following order: zinc oxide > aluminum oxide > titanium (IV) oxide. The durability of antimicrobial activity has been tested after thirty wash cycles

Effect of pretreatment of wool fabric with keratin on its dyeability with acid and reactive dyes

157-161Keratin has been extracted from wool using ammonium thioglycolate under nitrogen atmosphere and then used for treating wool fabric in the presence of epichlorohydrin as a cross-linking agent. The treated fabrics are then dyed with acid and reactive dyes at various temperatures. Complete exhaustion of these dyes on the treated fibres takes place at room temperature within 20 min. Higher dyeing temperatures result in complete exhaustion of the dyebath within a short time. The dyeing kinetics of the treated fibres are also evaluated. The half dyeing time of the treated samples decreases to <12 s against the 300 s for the untreated ones. The wash and rub fastness of the dyed fabrics have also been assessed. It is found that urea-bisulphite solubility values assure that epichlrohydrin is able to form permanent crosslinks between keratin and wool. Scanning electron micrographs of the treated fabrics disclose formation of very thin keratin layer onto wool surface