An important growing part of the textile industry is related to medical, healthcare, and hygiene products. The textile materials must meet the particular needs of medical and surgical application with strength, flexibility, moisture permeability, and breathability. Sometimes, it requires long durability which cannot be assured by natural fiber. In that cases, synthetic fibers can be an alternate option.
Polyester is one the most widely used synthetic fiber in the world. It mainly contains an ester functional group as a monomer. Polyester is also called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). It has various advantageous characteristics. The preparation process is simple as well as required low cost. It provides high strength and long durability. Comparing with other synthetic fibers, the application of polyester is extensively in the apparel and textile industries.
In the medical application as well as to prepare hygiene products, it is required antimicrobial finishing on polyester fabric. Polyester is a hydrophobic fiber, which is problematic during the finishing process by surface treatment. To overcome this problem, several researchers are working on it. Some of the treated procedures are illustrated here.
Antibiotics treatment
There have been numerous procedures for preventing contamination of these biomaterials, with the most engaging methodology including the antibiotic of anti-microbial onto the outside of the biomaterial through different modalities. The summarization of antibiotics is presented in Table 1. Mainly the antibiotics are directly applied to the surface treatment during dyeing.
| Table 1: Different antibiotics used for antimicrobial finishing on polyester fabric. | |||
| SL No. | Name | Types | Application method. |
| 1. | Ciprofloxacin (Cipro) | Quinolone antibiotic | Directly applied in dyeing |
| 2. | Phenolysin | Azithrocyanin | Pad-dry-cure method |
| 3. | Tricolosan | Anthracin antibiotic | Directly applied in dyeing |
Chemical treatments
There are different types of the chemical have applied on the antimicrobial treatment of polyester fabric. The list of chemical treatments is summarized in Table 2.
From the list, some of the chemicals show good antibacterial stability. This is mainly due to the chemical interactions between polyester fabrics. For silane compounds, the polyester fabrics are coated with the cationic agent first. Then the chemicals are applied which make a covalent band using the ion-exchange process. It shows the antibacterial activity for up to 1 year. On the other hand, where only surface treatments are taking place, it shows a little stability of antibacterial activity.
| Table 2: Chemical treatment of polyester fabric for antibacterial activity. | |||
| SL. No. | Chemical Name | Interaction with fiber | Stability |
| 1. | Silane compounds | Coating the substrate with cationic species one molecule and then ion exchange process. (Covalent bonding) | Up to 1 year. |
| 2. | N-Halamine | PET reacted amide fragments with 3-hydroxymethyl-5,5-dimethylhydantoin and subsequent chlorination with sodium hypochlorite | Up to 20 wash |
| 3. | Gelatin Gels | Treated with carbon dioxide gas plasma to improve hydrophilicity and subsequently impregnated with gelatin. | Up to 10 weeks |
| 4. | Alginate Gels | Impregnated into porous knitted polyester grafts | – |
| 5. | Alkylated Polyethylenimine | Covalent derivatization with N-peralkylated
polyethylenimine (PEI) |
– |
| 6. | Tinosan | Using it in the dyebath | Up to 30 wash |
| 7. | Chloronated Phenoxy Compound (CPC) | Surface treatment in Jet dyeing machine | A little response |
| 8. | Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate | Surface coating | 7-14 days |
Physical treatments
Different physical treatments have been applied for the development of antimicrobial polyester fabric. Plasma is one of them. Plasma treatments are surface coatings which are cost-effective, harmless to the ecosystem, uniform and appropriate to numerous materials, and they keep the mass properties of the substrate unblemished.
Non-woven PET was initiated by argon gas plasma, and along these lines, water-soluble monomers (acrylamide and itaconic) were joined onto PET by UV-initiated surface unite polymerization. After the plasma enactment and additionally joining, the hydrophobic surface of the non-woven polyester was changed into a hydrophilic surface. A chitosan are used in the process (Figure-1). Which shows excellent antimicrobial properties.
The biomedical utilization of polyester incorporates prosthetic parts, for example, counterfeit vascular, laryngeal, esophageal, and stitch. Surface polymer adjustment becomes significant when polymeric materials are presented to physiological segments such as blood and living tissues.
Therefore, it is concluded that the above antimicrobial finishing on polyester fabric can provide effective approaches than the traditional treatment.
