When it comes to health-related professions, protection against pathogens is a growing concern and textiles with antimicrobial properties are becoming more and more desirable. Fungi or other similar insects are responsible for deadly infections and allergic reactions. Despite the production of antimicrobial textile products; Three inherent problems remain:
* Demonstration of efficacy,
* Claim efficacy in a manner that does not invite legal challenge and,
* Maintain efficacy throughout the life of the textile and through generations of microbial challenges.
These issues could be reframed as how to test and present the test results, how to make the effect last, and how to avoid microbial resistance to treatment. These problems combine so that, despite obvious commercial and advertising potential, effective, durable, inexpensive and safe biocidal textiles are not widely available on the market. It should be noted that a promising compound that has been showing up commercially in a variety of products has just encountered its first resistant organism.
Antimicrobial technologies in textiles:
Whether technical or performance fabric is ultimately worn outdoors, indoors, or on the body, challenges such as microbial control, moisture management, odor control, stretch, and even softness prevail. These challenges offer new opportunities to wisely search for technologies that meet those needs, whether you’re looking for a single feature or a combination of features.
This discussion will address the important considerations when choosing the correct finishes for your customers’ performance needs, i.e. durability, ease of application, safety, and ultimate performance requirements for the end use. Consumer needs drive the product value chain and value features make the margin difference for market success.
The inherent properties of textile fibers provide room for the growth of microorganisms. Furthermore, the structure of the substrates and the chemical processes can induce the growth of microbes. The hot, humid environment still aggravates the problem. Microbial infestation causes cross infection by pathogens and odor development where the fabric is worn next to the skin. Additionally, staining and loss of performance properties of textile substrates are the result of microbial attack. Basically, with a view to protecting the wearer and the textile substrate itself, an antimicrobial finish is applied to textile materials.
Historical account:
During World War II, when cotton fabrics were widely used for tents, tarps, and truck covers, these fabrics needed to be protected from spoilage caused by microbial attack. This was particularly a problem in the South Pacific campaigns, where much of the fighting took place in jungle-like conditions. In the early 1940s, the US Army’s Quartermaster Crops collected and compiled data on fungi, yeasts, and algae isolated from textiles in tropical and subtropical areas around the world. Cotton duck, webbing, and other military fabrics were treated with mixtures of chlorinated waxes, copper salts, and antimony that hardened the fabrics and gave them a peculiar smell. At that time, the possible contaminating effects of the application of these materials and the problem related to toxicity were not a major consideration. After World War II and until the mid-to-late 1950s, fungicides used on cotton fabrics were compounds such as 8-hydroxygyunoline salts, copper naphthenate, copper ammonium fluoride, and chlorinated phenals.
What are microbes?
Microbes are the smallest creatures that cannot be seen with the naked eye. They include a variety of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae and viruses. Bacteria are single-celled organisms that grow very quickly in heat and moisture. Furthermore, the subdivisions in the family of bacteria are Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus), Gram negative (E-Coli), spore-bearing or non-spore-bearing. Some specific types of bacteria are pathogenic and cause cross-infection. Fungi, molds or fungi are complex organisms with a slow growth rate. They stain the fabric and deteriorate the performance properties of the fabrics. Fungi are active at a pH level of 6.5. Algae are typical microorganisms that are fungi or bacteria. Algae require continuous sources of water and sunlight to grow and develop darker stains on fabrics.
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