EVALUATION OF SILVER CONTENT AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF SILVER LOADED FIBER/COTTON BLENDED TEXTILE FABRICS

The aims of this work were to analyze the antibacterial activity and laundering durability of the silver loaded cellulosic fiber/cotton blended antibacterial textile fabrics, to quantify the silver content present in fabrics, and to examine the relationship between the antibacterial activity and silver content. For this aims knitting fabrics consisting of SeaCell® Active, which is the cellulosic fiber incorporated with seaweed and silver ions, and cotton fibers blended with five different ratios were produced. All fabric samples bleached and washed 60 times. The antibacterial efficiency was evaluated according to AATCC 100-1999 method after each ten laundry cycles. Silver content of the fabrics were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Fiber and fabric surfaces were investigated using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and by X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) views. Antibacterial tests showed that good antibacterial activity can be achieved after several washings even with 3% of SeaCell ® Active fibers in blended fabrics. Significant correlation was found between silver content and bacterial reduction.