Applicability of antibacterial boron compounds to textile products

The textile industry is one of the important sectors in our country and is growing rapidly in line with developing technology and increasing demands. With this growth, competition increases and the production of qualified products gains importance. In textile, properties such as flame retardancy, water proofness and antibacterial properties imparted to the fabric are among the sought-after qualities. In this study, sodium perborate tetrahydrate and borax decahydrate, which are known to be antibacterial, were applied to 100% cotton fabric at 10, 20 and 30 g/L concentrations. The chemical bond structures of the applied fabric samples were examined by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FT-IR), surface morphologies and boron element distribution on the fabric surface were examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX), thermal behavior was examined by Simultaneous Thermal Analysis (STA), SEM-EDX, FTIR, strength, hydrophilicity, pH analyzes and whiteness indices measurement were performed to examine and compare the washing resistance of the samples. When the SEM-EDX analysis results were examined, it was seen that 9-9.5% boron by mass was distributed homogeneously on the fabric. This amount of boron remains on the fabric at a similar rate after washing. Antibacterial analyzes were performed on Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 43300 (MRSA) and Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 (E. coli) according to the ASTM 2149 method. It was observed that samples with a pH value of approximately 9 showed a certain amount of antibacterial activity. This value is at most 49% for MRSA. However, over 80% antibacterial activity for E.coli was detected in samples with a pH value approaching 7 after washing.