Cotton antimicrobial resistence

Textile Finishing. Polyethyleneimine-A/-methylolurea derivatives improve the crease and wear resistance of cotton (429,430). The adhesion between individual wool fibers is improved by pretreatment with amines, which leads to improved shrink resistance (431). An antimicrobial finish can be appHed to cotton by using a combination of PEI and ureas to bind zinc pyrithione to the fabric (432). After wool has been provided with a flameproof finish using fluorozirconate or fluorotitanate, the wool can be neutralized with PEI (433). Conventional neutralizing agents caimot be used for this purpose since they impair the flameproof characteristics of the impregnated fabric. 

The resistance of cellulose to microbial attack when it was treated with resins was attributed to chemical bonds formed between the fiber and the resin this was ascertained by treating cotton with a variety of phosphonium salt-resin compositions having different degrees of cross-linking and homopolymerization (127). Some of the more recent approaches for producing antimicrobial fibers include the use of reactive dyes (128) and mixtures of zirconyl and copper salts (15) on cotton and the bromination of jute (129). 

Pores accessible to water molecules are not necessarily accessible to chemical agents. Chemical modification is required to impart many desired properties to cotton fabric. These include color, permanent press, flame resistance, soil release, and antimicrobial properties to name a few. Thus, a knowledge of cotton s accessibility under water-swollen conditions to dyes and other chemical agents of various sizes is required for better control of the various chemical treatments applied to cotton textiles. 

Cellulose ethers generally are very stable. Many etherified cottons are highly resistant to hydrolytic removal of substituent groups under both acidic and alkaline conditions. Because of this stability, many of the most practical chemical treatments of cotton are based on etherification reactions [9,328-331]. These treatments provide cotton products with useful, durable properties including wrinkle resistance, water repellency, flame resistance, and antimicrobial action. 

Wool and cotton fibres are still iding applications in leisure wear. S5 thetic fibres can either be modified during manufacture, for example, by producing hollow fibres and fibres with irregular cross-section, or be optimally blended with natural fibres to improve their thermophysiological and sensory properties. Synthetic fibres with improved ultraviolet (UV) resistance and having antimicrobial properties are also commercially available for use in sportswear. 

With respect to hotmelts, biobased and biodegradable (Guo et al., 2010) types are available on the market, developed primarily for paper and cardboard. Table 1.8 gives an overview of hotmelts tested on textiles. Some were functionalised towards antimicrobial behavior and fire resistance (De Vilder et al., 2013). On cotton, good flame retardancy was obtained for the FR-functionalized Unirez using Eco-flam PU-228... 

A S Aly, A Hasbem, S S Hussein, Utilization of chhosan citrate as crease-resistant and antimicrobial finishing agent for cotton fabric , ImRan J of Fibre and Tex Res, 2004 29(2) 218-222. 

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