Textile biodeterioration

Advanced composites and fiber-reinforced materials are used in sailcloth, speedboat, and other types of boat components, and leisure and commercial fishing gear. A ram id and polyethylene fibers are currentiy used in conveyer belts to collect valuable offshore minerals such as cobalt, uranium, and manganese. Constmction of oil-adsorbing fences made of high performance fabrics is being evaluated in Japan as well as the constmction of other pollution control textile materials for maritime use. For most marine uses, the textile materials must be resistant to biodeterioration and to a variety of aqueous pollutants and environmental conditions. 

Most soil microorganisms are inhibited by cold and freezing conditions. Low, but not freezing, temperature will slow bacterial activity. For biodeterioration to be inhibited over longer timescales, soil conditions need to be well below freezing. In the 1980s the frozen bodies of three seamen who had been buried in the Canadian arctic were exhumed. The bodies exhibited extensive soft-tissue preservation, and the textile remains were in excellent condition (Beattie 1992 Beattie and Geiger 1987). 

Lloyd, A. O. (1968). The evaluation of rot resistance of cellulosic textiles, in Biodeterioration of Materials Microbial and Allied Aspects (A. H. Walters and J. J. Elphick, Eds.). Amsterdam Elsevier, 170-177. 

Because of its broad spectrum of effectiveness, its insolubility in water and its stability it is proposed to use HNA as a long-term protectant against biodeterioration of materials, e.g. leather, footwear, cotton, textiles, paper. 

Dichlorobenzoxazolinone is a very potent fungicide which had been used in the past mainly for the protection of textile material against biodeterioration. The minimum inhibition concentrations of the compound for a wide variety of fungal species are in the range of 10-100 mg a.i./ml nutrient agar. However, 5,6-dichlorobenzoxazolinone is no longer of practical importance. 

Cellulosic fibres, such as cotton, are the most susceptible to microbial attack and most uses of microbicides are directed at protecting cotton fabrics. Problem causers are cellulose-decomposing fungi and bacteria. Synthetic fibres in general do not as readily biodeteriorate as cellulosic fibres, but staining by microbes may occur without loss of strength. Protection of fabrics with microbicides is also needed to keep textile materials in a hygienic condition. 

Aldehyde-releasing agents, particularly those which release formaldehyde, find application in a number of processes as preservatives, such as in cutting-oil emulsions and latexes [325]. Formaldehyde may be applied to natural keratin fibres in the leather and textile industry to prevent problems of anthrax contamination [341], in paints as preservatives [342] and in the construction industry as toxic washes to prevent microbial growth on large surface areas [343] or as additives in concrete itself [344]. Formaldehyde has long been used as a preservative for natural history specimens in, for example, museums, to prevent biodeterioration and maintain the structure of organs and tissues [345]. 

As a preservative for functional fluids OPP is used in adhesives, thickeners, lubricoolants, textile, leather and paper auxiliaries, ceramic glazes etc. Textile material, leather and paper is protected against biodeterioration through application of OPP or OPP-Na (7.4.1a.). It is gaining more and more importance as a substitute for PCP (7.5.4.) for the temporary protection of freshly cut wood and sawn timber. Even post harvest preservatives to prevent spoilage of stored fruits (e.g. citrus fruits) may be based on OPP for the latter application the following limit is fixed in the USA and the EC lOmg/kg citrus fruit. 

EFFECT OF THE SOIL ENVIRONMENT ON THE BIODETERIORATION OF MAN-MADE TEXTILES... 

Fibers and garments recovered as evidence may have been exposed to sunlight or water or buried for extended periods of time. Despite the significance of textile fibers as trace evidence, there have been few studies of the effects of the environment in which fibers are found on the procedures used to identify and compare them. It was the object of this study to expose various synthetic fibers to a soil environment and determine the effects of biodeterioration in such an environment on the analytical methods used to identify and compare synthetic fibers in the forensic science laboratory. 

Kaplan, A. M., Mandels, M., and Greenberger, N. Mode of action of regins in preventing microbial degradation of cellulosic textiles. In Biodeterioration of materials olume 2. pp. 268-278(1972). 

Brian J. Me Carthy. Biodeterioration in wool textile processing. International Dyer, 164, 59-62 (1980). 

McCarthy, B. J. Rapid methods for the deteebion of biodeterioration in textiles. International Biodeterioration, 23, 357-364 (2009). 

Montegut, D., Indictor, N. Koestler, R. J. (1991). Fungal deterioration of cellulosic textiles a review, fnternational Biodeterioration Biodegradation, 28, 209-226. 

Szostak - Kotowa, J. (2004). Biodeterioration of textiles. International Biodeterioration Biodegradation, 53, 156-170. 

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