Effect of repeated laundering on durability and bactericidal activity of some antibacterial finishes

This paper investigates imparting antibacterial properties to a woven and a knitted cotton fabric using polyhexamethylene-biguanide hydrochloride (phmb),silver salt and 5 chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy) phenol based commercially available finishes. the antibacterial functions of the treated fabric samples are determined by the nature of the bacteria as well as number of repeated washing cycles. this research shows that these finishes are more effective against species of perspiration bacteria than escherichia coli. a higher concentration of finishes is required to improve their effectiveness against e coli and their durability to repeated laundering. the effect of antibacterial finishes on the tensile strength and burst strength of woven and knitted fabrics has also been investigated,respectively. the antibacterial finishes have no drastic effect on tensile strength and burst strength of the fabrics.