Flame Retardancy Enhancement of Jute Fabric Using Chemical Treatment

This work aims to improve the flame retardancy of jute fabric. Raw and bleached plain weave jute fabric was used in this work. Flame retardants borax, diammonium phosphate and thiourea were applied in different concentrations in a raw and bleached jute fabric with the padding method. The influences of flame retardant finishing on the vertical flammability behaviour and tensile properties as well as wash resistance were inves¬tigated. Flame spread time was found to significantly increase when these simple flame retardant finishing agents were used. It was found that the borax-treated raw and bleached specimens exhibited higher flame spread time among all. The assessment of physical properties such as weight gain percentage and breaking load along warp and weft direction of the control and treated fabrics revealed that the increase of flame retardant finishing weight gain caused a decrease in breaking load. Furthermore, the specimens treated with borax and diammonium phosphate flame retardant showed better results than thiourea for flame retardancy and wash durability. These flame retardant jute fabrics have industrial protective textile applications as brattice cloth in mines and many other potential fields of application, e.g. flame retardant kitchen apron, furnishings for public hall, theatre and hospital, etc.

Antibacterial finishing of cotton fabric with clove oil microcapsules

The present study was conducted to develop a microencapsulated antibacterial finish using clove essential oil for cotton fabric. Microcapsules of clove essential oil (Syzygium fragranceticum) were developed with phase separation - complex coacervation technique using five concentrations of essential oil for application on cotton fabric. The finished cotton fabric was tested for SEM analysis and anti-bacterial finish using standard test methods. Findings of SEM analysis revealed that small spherical shape microcapsules in the treated samples were located at interstices between the fibres and on the fibre surface. The zone of inhibition was found maximum at concentration 5 of MCCL treated cotton fabric before wash with 12.5 mm ± 1.5 and 12.33 mm ± 0.57 (Mean and SD) against S. aureus and E. coli. MCCL oil treated cotton fabric showed the good wash durability against S. aureus as compared to E.coli. The antimicrobial property decreased with increasing number of wash cycles.

Wash Testing of Electronic Yarn

Electronically active yarn (E-yarn) pioneered by the Advanced Textiles Research Group of Nottingham Trent University contains a fine conductive copper wire soldered onto a package die, micro-electro-mechanical systems device or flexible circuit. The die or circuit is then held within a protective polymer packaging (micro-pod) and the ensemble is inserted into a textile sheath, forming a flexible yarn with electronic functionality such as sensing or illumination. It is vital to be able to wash E-yarns, so that the textiles into which they are incorporated can be treated as normal consumer products. The wash durability of E-yarns is summarized in this publication. Wash tests followed a modified version of BS EN ISO 6330:2012 procedure 4N. It was observed that E-yarns containing only a fine multi-strand copper wire survived 25 cycles of machine washing and line drying; and between 5 and 15 cycles of machine washing followed by tumble-drying. Four out of five temperature sensing E-yarns (crafted with thermistors) and single pairs of LEDs within E-yarns functioned correctly after 25 cycles of machine washing and line drying. E-yarns that required larger micro-pods (i.e., 4 mm diameter or 9 mm length) were less resilient to washing. Only one out of five acoustic sensing E-yarns (4 mm diameter micro-pod) operated correctly after 20 cycles of washing with either line drying or tumble-drying. Creating an E-yarn with an embedded flexible circuit populated with components also required a relatively large micro-pod (diameter 0.93 mm, length 9.23 mm). Only one embedded circuit functioned after 25 cycles of washing and line drying. The tests showed that E-yarns are suitable for inclusion in textiles that require washing, with some limitations when larger micro-pods were used. Reduction in the circuit’s size and therefore the size of the micro-pod, may increase wash resilience.

Evaluation and development of antibacterial fabrics using Pongamia pinnata extracts

Purpose A widespread focus on the plant-based antimicrobial cotton fabric finishes has been accomplished with notable importance in recent times. The antimicrobials prevent microbial dwelling in fabrics, which causes severe infections to the fabric users. Chemical disinfectants were conventionally used in fabrics to address this challenge; however, they were found to be toxic to humans. Thus, the present study aims to deal with the utilization of phytochemical extracts from different parts of Pongamia pinnata as antimicrobial coatings in cotton fabrics. Design/methodology/approach The root, bark and stem were collected and washed several times using tap water. Then, the leaves were dried at room temperature and the root and bark were dried using an oven at 40ºC. After drying, they were ground into fine powder and extracted with ethanol using the Soxhlet apparatus. After that the extract was coated on the fabric tested for antimicrobial studies. Findings The results reported that the leaf extract of P. pinnata-coated fabric exhibited enhanced antibacterial property towards gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria, followed by root, bark and stem. The wash durability test in the extract-coated fabric samples revealed that dip-coating retained antibacterial activity until five washes. Thus, the current study clearly suggests that the leaf extract from P. pinnata is highly useful to develop antibacterial cotton fabrics as health-care textiles. Originality/value The novelty of the present work is to obtain the crude extract from the leaves, bark, root and stem of P. pinnata and evaluate their antibacterial activity against E. coli, upon being coated on cotton fibres. In addition, the extracts were subjected to wash durability analysis to study the coating efficiency of the phytochemicals in cotton fabrics and a probable mechanism for the antibacterial activity of P. pinnata extracts was also presented.

Multifunctional Flax Fibres Based on the Combined Effect of Silver and Zinc Oxide (Ag/ZnO) Nanostructures

Cellulosic fibre-based smart materials exhibiting multiple capabilities are getting tremendous attention due to their wide application areas. In this work, multifunctional flax fabrics with piezoresistive response were developed through the combined functionalization with silver (Ag) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs). Biodegradable polyethylene glycol (PEG) was used to produce AgNPs, whereas ZnONPs were synthetized via a simple and low-cost method. Flax fabrics with and without NPs were characterized by Ground State Diffuse Reflectance (GSDR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). After creating a conductive surface by flax functionalization with AgNPs, ZnONPs were synthetized onto these fabrics. The developed fibrous systems exhibited piezoresistive response and the sensor sensitivity increased with the use of higher ZnO precursor concentrations (0.4 M). Functionalized fabrics exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria, higher hydrophobicity (WCA changed from 00 to >1000), UV radiation resistance, and wash durability. Overall, this work provides new insights regarding the bifunctionalization of flax fabrics with Ag/ZnO nanostructures and brings new findings about the combined effect of both NPs for the development of piezoresistive textile sensors with multifunctional properties.

Application of Environment-Friendly Processes Aimed at Bonding Β-Cyclodextrine onto Cellulosic Materials

The impact of the pre-treatment of cellulose material in NaOH solution and of microwave radiation on the mechanism of crosslinking β-cyclodextrin with cellulose was investigated in this paper. Citric acid and Na-hypophosphite as catalysts were applied for better crosslinking. Inclusion compounds with tea tree essential oil and cyclodextrines grafted onto cotton fabric were made in order to verify that cavities were available for inclusion compounds. The permanence of β-CD on the cellulose fabrics treated was tested by ISO 6330:2012. The properties and structure of the materials treated were characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The breaking force and mechanical damage of the materials were determined according to EN ISO 13934- 1:1999. The results indicated better bonding between cellulose and β-cyclodextrin where microwave treatment was applied, the phenomenon of which is of great importance for long lasting wash durability. In order to quantify the odour releasing behaviour of β-CD treated cellulose fabrics, olfactometric determination of the intensity of odour was undertaken.

Application of Enriched Fraction of Seabuckthorn Leaf Extract as Antimicrobial Finish on Technical Textile

<p class="p1">Flavonoid-rich fraction (FRF) from Seabuckthorn leaves extract was prepared by acid hydrolysis process. Total flavonoid content of Seabuckthorn leaves extract and FRF estimated as rutin equivalent was found to be 116.98±3.06 and 277.14 ± 6.78 mg/g of extract/FRF respectively. Its major constituents myrcetin, quercetin, kaempferol and isorhamnetin, were determined by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Aramid (NomexIIIA) fabric was treated with triethylene tetramine to increase the wicking height of the fabric for better uptake of FRF. Then, FRF was coated using citric acid as cross linking agent on to aramid fabric by pad-dry-cure method for improved wash durability. FRF coated fabric was characterised using Universal attenuated total internal reflection Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy. Effect of FRF coating on flammability property of coated fabric was estimated using flammability tester. There was no significant difference in the char length of the FRF coated fabric and control samples.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2">Antimicrobial activity of the FRF coated fabric was assessed by both qualitative (agar diffusion method; AATCC 147-2001) and quantitative (percentage reduction test; (AATCC 100-2001) methods using test organisms. The zone of inhibition by agar diffusion method for <em>E. coli </em>and <em>S. aureus </em>was found to be 12.4 mm and 16.7 mm respectively. Quantitative assessment by percentage reduction test showed a reduction percentage of 96.00% and 93.00% for <em>S. aureus </em>and <em>E</em>. <em>coli</em>, respectively. The results of the above study indicate FRF as a valuable ingredient for the development of antimicrobial textiles.</p>

Antimicrobial Activity of Coleus Ambonicus Herbal Finish on Cotton Fabric

An extract obtained from Coleus Ambonicus was applied on cotton fabric by means of the exhaust, micro encapsulation and nano encapsulation methods, and the antimicrobial activity of the finished fabric assessed quantitatively by the AATCC test method 100 against gram positive (staphylococcus aureus) and gram negative (Escherichia coli) microbes. The finish applied on the the samples using all three methods exhibit a good bacterial reduction percentage. The finish applied on the samples using all three methods possesses a higher bacterial reduction percentage against gram positive microbes than gram negative, even after washing. The method of washing conforms to ISO method 3. The wash durability of the antimicrobial activity was assessed by the bacterial reduction percentage after washing. The wash durability of the samples using the direct exhaust method was very poor and it lost its antimicrobial activity after 10 wash cycles. The wash durability of the samples using the micro encapsulated method shows antimicrobial activity up to 10 wash cycles, dropping gradually to very low levels at 20 wash cycles. The wash durability of the samples using nano encapsulation shows good antimicrobial activity against both gram positive and gram negative microbes even after 30 washes

A Literature Review of Manufacturing Eco-Friendly Comfort Textiles and Future Agenda

Comfort is now a hot topic in textile and clothing field. While textile materials are improving against our comfort feeling in various aspects, a lot of technologies were introduced for manufacturing comfort textile. The technologies may produce negative effect to the environment. Also, “eco-friendly” always draws much attention by the public and many research fields. Therefore, in this study, we conducted a literature review from 2005 to 2015 for analysing the current trends in developing eco-friendly comfort textile and proposed future agenda. The results of this paper identified 4 research questions and directions: (i) How to increase and ensure wash durability? (ii) Recycling of used comfort materials? (iii) Subjective test and Commercialize of materials and (iv) Marketing, how to promote eco-friendly and comfort products?