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Title: ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES AND DRYING EFFECTS OF FLAX DENIM AND ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES OF NONWOVEN FLAX FABRIC

Author
item Chun, David
item Foulk, Jonn
item MCALISTER, DAVID - USTER TECHNOLOGIES

Submitted to: BioResources
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/4/2010
Publication Date: 1/4/2010
Citation: Chun, D.T., Foulk, J.A., Mcalister, D. 2010. ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES AND DRYING EFFECTS OF FLAX DENIM AND ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES OF NONWOVEN FLAX FABRIC. BioResources. 5(1):244-258.

Interpretive Summary: Using the modified AATCC Test Method 100-1999 for assaying for antibacterial properties of textile fabrics, no direct evidence that increasing the flax content of flax fabric would increase the antibacterial properties was observed. When the effect of drying was looked at, increased flax content did not improve the rate of drying although drying could decrease the population density below that of the original inoculum level but this was not influenced by the proportion of flax in the fabric. When flax fabric was saturated and then dried during incubation, there were no improved drying associated with increased flax content, but the faster drying at 37 degrees C which is used in the modified AATCC Test Method for assessing antibacterial properties, may dry out the swatches too soon for differences in flax content to be expressed as reduced population density. When nonwoven flax was looked at as possibly containing more "antibacterial" components that scoured nonwoven flax material, the population density was found to be actually higher which suggested that the unscoured nonwoven flax may contain components that may support bacterial activity more than inhibit it.

Technical Abstract: A modification of "AATCC Test Method 100-1999, Antibacterial Finishes on Textile Materials: Assessment of," was used for assaying the antibacterial properties of denim containing various flax levels. When the effect of drying was looked at, increased flax content did not improve the rate of drying although drying decreased the population density below that of the original inoculum level but this was not influenced by the proportion of flax in the fabric. When flax fabric was saturated and dried during incubationm, there was no improved drying associated with increased flax content, 37 C may dry out the swatches too soon for differences in flax content to be expressed as reduced population density although this is unlikely since the fabric content did not seem to affect the drying rate. When nonwoven flax was looked at as possibly containing more 'antibacterial' components than scoured nonwoven flax material, the population density was actually higher which suggested that the unscoured nonwoven flax may contain components that actually support bacterial growth. No direct evidence that increasing the flax content of flax fabric increased the antibacterial properties.