Atmospheric argon plasma effects on microbial load of Wet-Blue leathers

Summary form only given. Leather materials provide an excellent environment for microorganisms to grow. Although various agents are used at the leather product processing in order to bring in antibacterial property, it can come across some problems as these chemical substances of harmful effect to the environment and human health or enough efficiency in order to kill bacteria. The main objective of this study is to develop antimicrobial leather by an innovative method using plasma technology and investigate their antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli ATCC 12228 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538-P. The plasma pen was built using a glass tube with inner diameter 6.1 mm and outer diameter 8.2 mm. The length of glass tube was 9.7 cm. A copper high voltage electrode with 1 mm diameter was placed axis of the glass tube. Atmospheric argon plasma at 5 kHz frequency and 10 kV (peak to peak) voltages was applied to the Wet-Blue leathers with different times (1-5-10-15 minutes). For 10 and 15 minutes wet-blue leathers has got significant antibacterial effect and results of reduction of bacteria showed among %99-100.