Plasma treatment applied in the pad-dry-cure process for making rechargeable antimicrobial cotton fabric that inhibits S. Aureus

In this paper, variables in an environmentally friendly rechargeable antimicrobial finishing process were studied. Cotton fabric was treated with nitrogen plasma after padding with 5,5-dimethylhydantoin (DMH) when fabric was treated through the pad-dry-cure method, that is, pad-plasma-dry-cure. After that, fabric was chlorinated with sodium hypochlorite to impart antimicrobial property and function. An orthogonal array testing strategy was used in the finishing process for finding the optimum treatment condition. Ultraviolet spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were employed to evaluate the properties of treated cotton fabric, including concentration of chlorine on cotton fabric, morphological properties of the surface of cotton fabric and function groups on the cotton fabric. The results showed that cotton fabric finished with DMH with the help of plasma treatment followed by chlorination inhibits microorganisms effectively, the antimicrobial property against Staphylococcus (S.) aureus was rechargeable and durability of antimicrobial property was improved by plasma treatment.