Fabrication and Enhancement of Plasma Treated Cotton Tencel Cotton and Modal Cotton with Antibacterial and Mosquito Repellent Finish

Abstract

Recently textile industry is facing enormous challenges such as highly competitive market ever changing customer demands cost reduction value addition and strict environment rules Growing awareness for health and hygiene among the people has increased the demand for antibacterial and mosquito repellent textiles Hence considering the above facts the investigator selected plants to impart antibacterial and mosquito repellent finish Based upon the phytochemical analysis four phases namely Guava leaves Pisidium guajava Prickly chaff flower Achyranthes aspera Keelanelli Phyllanthus niruri and Vetiver Vetiveria zizanioides were selected For this study plain woven fabrics were prepared using blends of cotton modal and tencel yarn plasma was created using oxygen gas which was applied to the prepared fabrics Both the untreated and plasma treated fabrics were finished using the extracted herbs by padding technique The fabric evaluation was carried out newlineusing the standard testing procedure to measure the physical mechanical comfort and absorbency of the fabric samples The surface morphological features of herbal finished and plasma treated herbal finished fabric were evaluated by using scanning electron microscope The antibacterial efficacy of the fabrics was determined by bacterial reduction AATCC 100 Agar diffusion and parallel streak methods Mosquito repellency test was performed by Excito chamber method The prepared end produces arm pad and cushion cover were subjected to wear study and wash durability study Results from the study show that plasma treatment enhances the antimicrobial efficacy of the fabrics examined as evident from the durability of plasma treated fabrics after washing For example in the case of fabrics without plasma treatment the antimicrobial capability lasted only up to 15 wash cycles whereas with plasma treatment it lasted up to 25 wash cycles Additionally functional capability like mosquito repellency was also improved based on subjective wear trials The finish will be useful in the commercial mar