Effect of copper and copper alginate treatment on wool fabric. Study of textile and antibacterial properties

Alginate and copper ions were used for the preparation of modified wool fabrics with antimicrobial properties. The modified fabrics were characterized using FTIR spectroscopy, SEM and thermogravimetric analysis. The antimicrobial activity of wool fabrics was assessed before and after repeated washings (up to 50 cycles), against the test organism Escherichia coli. The resulting materials showed excellent antibacterial effect up to 100% reduction of bacteria after 24 h contact time, even after 50 wash cycles. Also, they have very good washing and rubbing fastness properties. Alginate treatment improves textile abrasion resistance and slightly enhances the fabrics mechanical strength, prevents copper loss during washing, but mainly helps increase sorption, doubling the amount of copper in the final product, resulting in increased antibacterial protection even at zero contact time (97.7% reduction of bacteria compared to 91.3% for the non-alginate containing sample).