Investigation on the effect of chitosan concentration on the antibacterial properties and color deviation of cotton fabric

Abstract

This study aims to determine the optimal chitosan concentration and antibacterial finishing solution to achieve effective antibacterial performance while maintaining the color quality and softness of cotton fabric, by applying chitosan to cotton fabric using the padding method during the finishing process. The experiment was conducted under the same finishing technological conditions (temperature, time), with variations in chitosan concentration, the volume ratio of finishing solution to chitosan solution, and the concentration of the antibacterial finishing solution. After finishing treatment, the antibacterial activity of the fabric was evaluated using the agar diffusion method, and the color change was assessed by two methods: lightbox and L,a,b measurements. The survey results showed that the optimal chitosan solution concentration for antibacterial activity on cotton fabric is 5%, the ratio of the finishing solution to chitosan solution is 1:3, and the concentration of the antibacterial finishing solution is 30 g/l. Finally, the fabric samples were evaluated for antibacterial performance using the AATCC 100 method with Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 and Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 11296. The results indicated that the cotton fabric treated with chitosan antibacterial finishing achieved higher antibacterial effectiveness than the control fabric sample.