Chitosan Coated Cotton Fiber: Physical

and Antimicrobial Properties for Apparel

Use

M.A.Rahman Bhuiyan, M.A.Hossain,

M.Zakaria, M.N.Islam & M.Zulhash
Uddin

Journal of Polymers and the

Environment
formerly: `Journal of Environmental
Polymer Degradation'

ISSN 1566-2543

J Polym Environ
DOI 10.1007/s10924-016-0815-2

1 23
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 Author's personal copy
J Polym Environ
DOI 10.1007/s10924-016-0815-2
ORIGINAL PAPER
Chitosan Coated Cotton Fiber: Physical and Antimicrobial
Properties for Apparel Use
M. A. Rahman Bhuiyan1 M. A. Hossain2 M. Zakaria1 M. N. Islam3
M. Zulhash Uddin4
Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract Cotton is a popular clothing material all over the
globe due to its flexibility, absorbency, versatility and
breathability but some intrinsic limitations such as wrinkle
formation, shrinkage and microbial degradation have
restricted its much wider applications as apparel fabric.
These negative aspects of cotton fiber may be overcome by
surface modification with chitosan. This paper explores the
use of chitosan for the treatment of cotton fabric to enhance
its physical and antimicrobial characteristics for apparel
use. The treatment was carried out by applying different
concentrations, such as 0.25, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 % of chitosan
solution on the fiber. Then the performance of treated
fabric samples were evaluated in terms of their tensile
strength and elongation, drapability, wrinkle recovery,
abrasion resistance and antibacterial characteristics. The
detailed experimental results have demonstrated that the
treatment with chitosan can significantly enhance the
antibacterial activity of cotton fiber against Staphylococcus
aureus and Escherichia coli. Moreover, the improvement
was also observed in case of physical characteristics such
as abrasion resistance and crease recovery property of
treated fabric samples. However, a slight deterioration in
strength, elongation and handle characteristics of treated
& M. A. Rahman Bhuiyan
arahman@duet.ac.bd
1
Department of Textile Engineering, Dhaka University of
Engineering and Technology, Gazipur 1700, Bangladesh
2
Department of Textile Engineering, Primeasia University,
Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh
3
Department of Chemistry, Dhaka University of Engineering
and Technology, Gazipur 1700, Bangladesh
4
Department of Wet Process Engineering, Bangladesh
University of Textiles, Dhaka 1203, Bangladesh
samples was observed compared to untreated samples
probably caused by acidic treatment and the surface coat-
ing on fiber following chitosan treatment. Since a small
reduction in strength and softness does not overshadow
greatly the overall improved performance of treated fab-
rics, the application of chitosan to cotton fiber is a potential
approach to get the desired physical and antimicrobial
property for apparel use.
Keywords Cellulose  Chitosan  Antimicrobial activity 
Cotton fiber  Fabric drape
Introduction
Cotton is a natural cellulosic fiber and the most popular
among all the textile fibers in apparel industry for a number
of its unique characteristics such as softness, versatility,
absorbance and breathability [1]. About 48 % cotton fiber
is consumed as clothing materials all over the globe [4] due
to its natural comfort, appearance and biodegradability.
Cotton can impart comfort through absorbing sweat from
the human body and then readily evaporating it owing to
the hydrophilic nature of its cellulose polymer [3]. The
polymer chain of cotton fiber consists of several hundreds
to more than thousand b(1-4) linked D-glucose units [2]
having abundant hydroxyl groups responsible for the
absorbency of moisture leading to comfort of cotton fiber.
Despite these special characteristic, cotton fiber possesses
some inherent limitations such as crease formation on
wear, shrinkage, low exhaustion of dyes and microbial
degradation [5]. Among various approaches have been
developed so far to overcome these limitations, the surface
modification of cotton fiber turns out to the latest trend in
the field of textile to impart antimicrobial activity and
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crease resistance, eliminating skin irritation and even
enhancing fragrance. Over the last decades, the applica-
tions of chitosan on textile have attracted many researchers
to surmount aforementioned limitations of cotton fiber [6].
Chitosan is a nontoxic and biodegradable biopolymer
[7], which is the second most abundant polysaccharide
found on the Earth next to cellulose [8]. This polymer is
obtained from the exoskeletons of crustaceans [9] arthro-
pods and mollusks [10] and the cell walls of certain fungi
[11] in the form of chitin. Chitosan is a partially deacety-
lated polymer of acetyl glucosamine obtained by alkaline
deacetylation of chitin [12]. Chitosan has garnered con-
siderable interests in the field of textile for its biocompat-
ibility, biodegradability, nontoxicity and antimicrobial
activity [13]. A variety of methods namely pad-dry, pad-
dry-steam, pad-batch, and exhaustion [14] can be used for
the application of chitosan on cellulose polymer to form
crosslink [15], resulting in the enhancement of antimicro-
bial activity of cotton fiber.
The antimicrobial activity of chitosan is well-docu-
mented. It is attributed to the polycationic nature of chi-
tosan which can most likely interact with the
predominantly anionic components [16] resulting in chan-
ges in permeability that leads to the death of cells by
inducing leakage of intracellular components [17]. More-
over, chitosan could adsorb the electronegative substrate in
the cell of microbe proteins and thereby disrupts the
physiological activities of the microorganism leading to
death of cells [18]. This antibacterial activity of chitosan
can considerably enhance the microbial resistance of cotton
fiber after treatment with chitosan. In addition, the treat-
ment of cotton fiber with chitosan also affects the softness,
handle, strength and other physical properties due to the
formation of coating on fiber surface [19]. The main
objectives of this study were to initiate surface modifica-
tion of cotton fiber by the treatment with chitosan followed
by the investigation of physical properties as well as the
antimicrobial activity of cotton fiber for apparel use.
Experimental
Chemicals and Materials Used
The experimental study was carried out by using 100 %
cotton plain woven fabric brought from local market. The
fabric was free of fluorescent brightener having the fol-
lowing construction.
Warp count  Weft count
Specification of fabric  Fabric width
Ends per inch  Picks per inch
40Ne  40Ne
 5400
120  80
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The enzyme treatment of fabric was carried out by using a
neutral enzyme (Cellzyme from Dysin, Bangladesh). The
scouring and bleaching treatments of fabric were per-
formed by adding a mix of the chemical agents: wetting
agent (Imeron PCLF) and peroxide stabilizer (Stabilizer
SOF liquid) from Clariant, Bangladesh. hydrogen peroxide
(H2O2) and caustic soda (NaOH) were purchased from
Merck, India and non-ionic detergent was collected from
Dysin, Bangladesh. A Commercial grade water soluble
chitosan (straw yellow powder, deacetylation = 95.3 %)
was collected from Zengzhou Sigma Chemical Company
Ltd., China and used as received in all experiments without
any physical or chemical modification. Analytical grade
acetic acid (CH3COOH) from Merck, India was used to
dissolve the chitosan in water. Antimicrobial activity of the
chitosan treated cotton fabric was examined against S.
aureus (gram positive) and E. coli (gram negative) which
were obtained from the Department of Microbiology,
University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Methods
Sample Preparation
Cotton woven fabric collected from local market was used
for investigation after treatment with chitosan. Prior to
chitosan application, the loose hairy fibers of the fabric
samples were removed by chemical singeing which is
known as enzyme treatment or biopolishing. The biopol-
ishing was performed by applying 3.0 g/L of neutral
enzyme onto the fabric in neutral medium (pH 6.57.0) at
70 C for 50 min. To remove the fat, wax and natural
impurities, the cotton fabric was boiled for 45 min after
adding 4.0 g/L of sodium hydroxide, 1.0 g/L of wetting
agent and 2.0 g/L of non-ionic detergent. Then, bleaching
process was applied to impart permanent whiteness on
cotton fiber by removing the natural pigments. The fabric
samples were treated with a solution containing 1.0 g/L of
wetting agent, 2.0 g/L of non-ionic detergent, 1.0 g/L of
stabilizer, 2.5 g/L of sodium hydroxide and 4.0 g/L of
hydrogen peroxide (35 %) at 90 C for 40 min. The liquor
ratio for all the pretreatment of cotton fabric was main-
tained 1:10 (w/v).
For the treatment of cotton fiber with chitosan, 0.25, 0.5,
1.0 and 1.5 % (w/v) concentration of chitosan solution was
applied in all the experiments. Chitosan solution was pre-
pared at room temperature by dissolving required amount
of chitosan powder in 2 % (v/v) acetic acid solution. The
treatment of cotton fabric with chitosan was carried out by
using Laboratory Padding Mangle from Copower Tech-
nology Ltd., Taiwan. The padding of fabric samples was
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performed at room temperature, 2 kg/cm2 pressure, and
squeezed to remove excess solution. After padding, all the
test samples were dried at 80 C for 20 min followed by
curing at 130 C for 5 min. For the ease of identification,
all the test fabric samples were coded as shown in Table 1.
Characterization
The determination of specific functional groups or chemi-
cal bonds that formed between chitosan and cellulose
polymer was carried out by FTIR spectrophotometer, IR
Affinity-1, from Shimadzu Corporation, Japan. FTIR
spectra of treated and untreated cotton fiber were taken by
transmission mode spectra and measured by potassium
bromide (KBr) pellets made of finely cut and ground fibers.
The surface morphology of untreated and chitosan treated
cotton fabric samples were examined by using a scanning
electron microscope (SEM) JEOL JSM-6490LA from
Japan. The acceleration voltage of work was 20 kV at the
magnification up to 20009.
Physical Testing
The measurement of breaking force and elongation of
cotton fabric samples was conducted by fabric tensile
strength tester (Model M250-2.5CT, Testometric Co. Ltd.,
UK) followed by grab test procedure ASTM D 5034. The
strength of woven fabric samples was measured in both
warp and weft direction separately and the size of sample
was maintained 4 in. 9 6 in. where force was applied on
gauge length 3 in. of 1 in. width [20].
The drapability of textile fabric which is expressed in
terms of drape coefficient was determined by fabric drape
tester (Model M213, SDL Atlas, UK) according to ISO
9073-9:2008 test method for nonwoven, woven and knitted
fabrics. Each 30 cm diameter sample was tested with its
face upwards and turned upside down to measure its
reverse. These two measurements were repeated twice to
obtain 3 face and 3 back shadows for each sample. The
drape coefficient (DC) was calculated by using Eq. (1)
[21].
M2
DC  100 1
M1
Table 1 Test fabric sample coding
Test fabric type Code
Fabric without any chitosan treatment U For each chitosan treated and one untreated sample, a
Fabric treated with 0.25 % chitosan solution A 250 mL flask were prepared containing 50 mL of the
Fabric treated with 0.5 % chitosan solution B working bacterial dilution (1.53.0 9 105 CFU/mL) and
Fabric treated with 1.0 % chitosan solution C fabric samples which were cut into small pieces
Fabric treated with 1.5 % chitosan solution D (1 cm 9 1 cm). All flasks were capped loosely, placed on
where M1 is the original weight of paper ring and M2 is the
weight of shaded area of the paper ring.
The wrinkle recovery of woven fabric samples was
assessed by crease recovery angle tester (Model 150, James
H. Heal and Co., UK) according to test procedure AATCC
66-2008. Twenty rectangular specimens were tested, each
measuring 40 mm 9 15 mm, half of the specimens cut
parallel to the warp and half parallel to the weft direction.
In the test the specimens were two folded and then placed
under a 10 N load for 5 min. They were then transferred
immediately to the holder of the measuring instrument and
crease recovery angle was measured, by reading the scale
when the free limb is vertical, 5 min after the removal of
the load [20].
The abrasion resistance of fabrics was evaluated by
Martindale abrasion resistance tester (Model 1305, James
H. Heal and Co., UK) followed by test method ASTM
D4966-98. The test was performed by abrading the 38 mm
test sample against standard abradant fabrics at a pressure
of 12 kPa until a predetermined end-point such as a hole or
the break of both warp and weft thread was reached, and
also the number of cycles to perform the experiment was
recorded [22]. All the physical analyses of test fabric
samples were conducted after conditioning the fabrics in
testing atmosphere (temperature 27 2 C and relative
humidity 65 2 %) for 24 h.
Antibacterial Property Testing
The antimicrobial properties of the chitosan treated fabrics
were assessed using ASTM E2149-01, which is a quanti-
tative antimicrobial test method designed to evaluate the
resistance of non-leaching antimicrobial treated specimens
to the growth of microbes under dynamic contact condi-
tions [23]. Antimicrobial activity was examined against S.
aureus (gram positive) and E. coli (gram negative). Each
culture was suspended in a small amount of nutrient broth,
spread on the nutrient agar plate, and incubated at 37 C
for 24 h. Two single colonies were picked up with an
inoculating loop from the agar plate, suspended in a 5 mL
nutrient broth, and incubated for 18 h at 37 C. A final
concentration of 1.53.0 9 105 colony forming units per
milliliter (CFU/mL) was prepared by appropriately diluting
each culture with a sterile buffer solution (0.3 mM phos-
phate buffer, pH 7.2), which was used as a diluents in all
experiments. These dilute culture solutions were used for
the antimicrobial test.

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a shaking incubator, and were shaken at 37 C and

120 rpm for 1 h. A series of dilutions were made using the
buffer solution and each 0.1 mL of the dilution was placed
in nutrient agar plate. The inoculated plates were incubated
in incubator (Binder from USA) at 37 C for 1824 h and
surviving cells were counted. Safety cabinet (Clernair from
Belgium) was used to carry out the preparation of bacteria
culture and transfering to agar plate. The antimicrobial
activity was expressed in terms of % reduction of the
organism after contact with the test specimen compared to
the number of bacterial cells surviving after contact with
the control using the Eq. (2). [24].
BA
% Reduction  100 2
B
where A and B are the surviving cells (CFU/mL) for the
flasks containing test samples (chitosan treated cotton) and
the control (blank cotton) respectively after 1 h contact
time.

Results and Discussion

Characterization of the Test Fabric Samples

FTIR Spectroscopic Analysis

FTIR spectroscopy is an analytical technique used to

identify mainly organic materials which provides infor-
mation about the chemical bonds and molecular structure
of a material. The existence of a specific chemical bond in
any material is indicate from the presence of a peak at a
specific wavenumber after scanning the test samples in the
infrared light source. FT-IR spectra of untreated and treated
cotton samples are presented in Fig. 1.
The evidence of chemical interaction between chitosan
and cellulose polymer is determined by the change of the
peaks from the characteristic spectra (Fig. 1). The broad
Fig. 1 FTIR transmission spectra of untreated cotton and chitosan
absorption band, which appears in the range of
treated cotton fabric samples
36002800 cm-1 is related to collective absorption by both
NH and OH groups in the polymer, is an indication of
the bonding of chitosan with cotton fiber through hydrogen cationic form (NH3?) in acidic solution, form crosslink in
bond [25]. The presence of chitosan is also revealed by its contact with the nucleophilic surface of bleached cotton via
typical peak shown only by treated samples at hydrogen bonding and/or iondipole interactions. [27].
16501580 cm-1 which assigned to NH bending [26]. A
strong absorption peak appears at 1633 cm-1 for chitosan Morphological Study
treated cotton fabric signifies the formation of Schiff base
(C=N double bond) between aldehydic carbonyl group of The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is usually used to
cotton and amino group of chitosan. Again, the absorption intuitively examine the surface structure of the solid [28]
in the region between 1600 and 1370 cm-1 are the char- that produces images of a sample by scanning it with a
acteristic peak for free NH2 group, is responsible for focused beam of electrons. In this study, the surface
introducing the cationic site in cotton polymer. In fact, structure of both the untreated and the treated cotton fibers
amine groups, NH2, which would be in the protonated was analyzed by scanning electron microscope to

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determine the effect of chitosan treatment on the fiber

morphology. The results obtained are shown in Fig. 2.
The natural convolution of both treated and untreated
cotton fiber is observed in the SEM photographs in Fig. 1.
Moreover, the surface of the chitosan treated cotton fiber
(D) is a little rougher compared with that of the untreated
one (U) due to the incorporation of chitosan covering the
fiber surface with adhered chitosan film.

Physical Properties of Chitosan Treated Cotton Fabric

The physical properties of textile fiber cover a large

number of effects, all of which determine the particular
character of the fiber specifically the key elements in fiber
selection for successful applications as clothing material
[29]. The physical characteristics of chitosan treated cotton
fabric samples was evaluated in terms of their tensile
strength and elongation at break, softness or handle,
wrinkle recovery and abrasion resistance of fabric for
apparel use.

Change of Strength and Elongation Fig. 3 Change of tensile strength cotton fabric after treatment with
chitosan

Tensile strength of a fabric is a measurement of the force

required to pull it to the point where it breaks after
extension. The serviceability or durability of textile mate-
rials is an important property which is directly related to
the strength and elongation of fibers for their promising use
as an apparel fabric [30]. The strength and breaking elon-
gation of the treated woven fabric samples in both warp
and weft directions are presented in Figs. 3 and 4.
The reduction of tensile strength and elongation of
chitosan treated cotton fabric samples as opposed to
untreated fabrics are shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Again, in the
warp direction the treated fabric samples seemed behaving
better compared to weft direction. The samples finished
with the chitosan had the worst score in the tests possibly
because of the treatment of cotton fiber with chitosan in
presence of acetic acid. The hydrolysis of cellulose in
acidic condition [31] leads to the damage of cellulosic fiber
causing decrease in fabric strength and elongation. More-
over, chitosan mostly forms a film on the surface of the
fiber letting a lesser amount of it to enter the inter-fiber
regions that instead of contributing to load bearing phe-
nomenon affects the symmetrical distribution of load [32].
Reduction of Fabric Softness
The softness of fabric can be represented by fabric drape
that is the ability of a textile material to deform when
suspended under its own weight under specified conditions
[21]. The drapability of fabric plays an important role in
apparel use by which clothes are adjusted with the body in
graceful folds, attractive lines and adorn with drapery. The
drape coefficient is the quantitative measurement of fabric
drapability that specifies the flexibility of fabric [20].

Fig. 2 SEM photographs of

untreated cotton fabric (U) and
treated cotton fabric (D) by
chitosan

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Fig. 4 Change of breaking elongation of cotton fabric after treatment
with chitosan
Lower values of drape coefficient are related to higher
softness of fabric and vice versa. The drape coefficient
values of treated and untreated cotton fabric samples are
shown in Fig. 5.
The increase in drape coefficient values of chitosan
treated cotton fabric samples in Fig. 5 indicates the
reduction of softness of cotton fabric. Again the flexibility
of fabric is reduced with the increment of chitosan con-
centrations. The enhancement of the stiffness of fabric after
treatment is due to the incorporation of chitosan covering
the fiber surface with adhered chitosan film. Since cotton
Fig. 5 The increase in drape coefficient values of cotton fabric with
the increment of chitosan concentrations
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fiber cell wall contains pores of relatively small sizes,
polymer with higher molecular weight cannot penetrate the
cotton fiber pores thus tend to remain on the fiber surface
[33]. Furthermore, the formation of film on the surface of
the fiber caused a reduction in the degree of freedom of the
fibers and yarns among themselves giving rise to a higher
stiffness of fabric [34].
Change of Crease Recovery
Crease recovery is the property of a fabric that enables it to
recover from folding deformations. The deformation
resulting from sharp fold causes a break or line in a fabric
known as crease which is undesirable in many cases of
fabric for apparel use. The disruption of H-bonds of cel-
lulose polymer during pressing or folding introduce the
wrinkling of cotton cloth [35] which is traditionally over-
come by the treatment of various cross-linking agents
based on aminoplast resins [32]. The crease recovery
property of treated cotton fabric samples as a function of
chitosan as a cross-linking agent has been compared
against untreated fabric samples in Fig. 6.
A little improvement in the anti-wrinkle property of
chitosan treated cotton fabrics is observed as shown in
Fig. 6. The limited improvement of crease recovery per-
formance was observed in case of low chitosan concen-
trations. However, the anti-wrinkle property of treated
fabric samples was found to decline with any further
increase of chitosan concentration. The crease recovery
Fig. 6 Effect of chitosan treatment on crease recovery property of
cotton fabric
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performance of finished fabrics is depends on surface
coatings formed by chitosan and this surface coating is
largely influenced by the molecular weight of chitosan
[32]. A low concentration of chitosan with small particle
size penetrates better and may bind to the fiber molecule
which leads to the improvement of crease resistance to
some extent. On the other hand, chitosan with a higher
concentration is more or less restricted to inter-fiber
regions and remain on the fiber surface [36] which lowers
the possibility of crosslinking and thereby helps contribute
to load shearing phenomenon resulting in reduction or no
improvement in anti-wrinkle property.
Improvement of Abrasion Resistance
Abrasion is the physical demolition of fibers, yarns and
fabrics, resulting from the rubbing of a textile fabric sur-
face over another surface [37]. The rubbing of textile
material occurs during wearing, cleaning or washing pro-
cess and this may distort the fabric, cause fibers or yarns to
be pulled out or removed fiber ends from the surface [22].
The ultimate result of abrasion is the loss of performance
characteristics, such as strength and appearance of the
fabric which is directly related to serviceability of that
material. The abrasion resistance performance of treated
and untreated cotton fabric samples is represented in
Fig. 7.
The improved abrasion resistance property of chitosan
treated cotton fabric samples compared to untreated sam-
ples is shown in Fig. 7. Good abrasion resistance of fabric
depends on its capability of absorbing absorption high
energy of rupture and the damage of fabric due to abrasion
that results from the fracture in the internal structure of
fiber [38]. The improved abrasion resistance of chitosan
treated cotton fabrics owing to the interaction between
Fig. 7 Improvement of abrasion resistance property of cotton fabric
due to the treatment of chitosan
cellulose and chitosan polymer which allows it to gain
more energy to withstand any repeated deformation [36].
Furthermore, the formation of chitosan film on the fiber
leads to a better adherence of fibers on the fabric surface
that helps the fabric to achieve a much closer state, and the
movement of fibers within the yarn will be limited resulting
in the gain of higher energy.
Antimicrobial Properties of Chitosan Treated Fabric
Chitosan is widely used as an antimicrobial agent in textile
due to its wide spectrum of activity and a high killing rate
against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. More-
over, several intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as pH,
microorganism species, positive charge density, physical
state, molecular weight (MW) and degree of deacetylation
(DD) of chitosan contribute to influenced the antibacterial
activities of textile material after treatment with chitosan
[39]. The antimicrobial properties of the chitosan treated
cotton fabrics against S. aureus and E. coli are tabulated in
Tables 2 and 3 respectively.
The reduction of microorganisms (S. aureus and E. coli)
on cotton fabrics after treatment with chitosan is shown in
Table 2 and 3. In case of untreated cotton fabric samples,
no antibacterial activity was observed against S. aureus and
E. coli. However, chitosan treated fabric samples demon-
strated a significant improvement of antibacterial property
against both organisms (Figs. 8, 9) and the reduction of
bacteria were found to increase with the increase in chi-
tosan concentration. The antibacterial activity of chitosan
is attributeed to its polycationic structure which causes
death of the cell by interacting with anionic proteins of
microorganism [6]. Moreover, a higher positive charge
density leads to strong electrostatic interaction which
adsorbs the electronegative substance in the cell and dis-
turbs the physiological activities of the microorganism.
Since the density of cations depends on the concentration
of chitosan and its degree of substitution [40] resulting in a
greater reduction of microorganism with the increment of
chitosan concentration.
However, no significant increase in reduction of
microorganism was found with the increased amount of
chitosan after 1 %. This phenomenon can be explained by
the charge interaction between the protonated chitosan and
negatively charged bacterial surface [41]. At lower con-
centrations, chitosan binds to the negatively charged cell
surface and thereby disturbs the cell membrane and causing
the death of cell by inducing leakage of intracellular
components. While at higher concentrations, the proto-
nated chitosan may coat the cell surface and prevents the
leakage of intracellular components [17]. In addition, the
positively charged bacterial cells repel each other and
prevent cohesion [42].
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Table 2 Reduction of
microorganism (S. aureus) in
treated cotton fabrics with the
increment of chitosan
concentration
Test fabric samples Surviving cells after 1 h contact time (CFU/mL) Reduction (%)
U 2.30 9 105 [B]
A 54.0 9 103 [A] 76.52
B 29.0 9 103 [A] 87.39
C 10.0 9 103 [A] 95.65
D 9.0 9 103 [A] 96.08

Table 3 Reduction of
microorganism (E. coli) in
treated cotton fabrics with the
increment of chitosan
concentration
Test fabric samples Surviving cells after 1 h contact time (CFU/mL) Reduction (%)
U 2.24 9 105 [B]
A 62.0 9 103 [A] 72.32
B 35.0 9 103 [A] 84.37
C 14.0 9 103 [A] 93.75
D 13.0 9 103 [A] 94.19

However, a slight reduction in strength, elongation and

softness characteristics of fabric after treatment with chi-
tosan was observed but that does not affect significantly the
overall better performance of fabric for apparel use. Thus
the findings of the study suggest a potential application of
chitosan on cotton fabric to provide the desired physical
and antimicrobial properties for its apparel use.

Fig. 8 Number of surviving cells (S. aureus) after contact with

untreated fabric sample (a) and fabric sample treated with 1 %
chitosan (b)
Fig. 9 Number of surviving cells (E. Coli) after contact with
untreated fabric sample (a) and fabric sample treated with 1 %
chitosan (b)
Conclusion
The physical and antimicrobial properties of cotton fiber
after surface modification by chitosan have been investi-
gated. The detailed study has demonstrated that the treat-
ment of cotton fabric with chitosan can appreciably
enhance the antibacterial activity of cotton fiber. Moreover,
the application of chitosan on cotton fabric also improves
the abrasion resistance and crease recovery property.
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