The Journal of The Textile Institute

ISSN: 0040-5000 (Print) 1754-2340 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tjti20

Polyester fabric with inherent antibacterial,

hydrophilic and UV protection properties

Prasad S. Upasani, T.V. Sreekumar & Ashwin K. Jain

To cite this article: Prasad S. Upasani, T.V. Sreekumar & Ashwin K. Jain (2015): Polyester fabric
with inherent antibacterial, hydrophilic and UV protection properties, The Journal of The Textile
Institute, DOI: 10.1080/00405000.2015.1097082

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2015.1097082

Published online: 13 Oct 2015.

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 The Journal of The Textile Institute, 2015
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2015.1097082

Polyester fabric with inherent antibacterial, hydrophilic and UV protection properties

Prasad S. Upasani*, T.V. Sreekumar and Ashwin K. Jain
Reliance Technology Group, Reliance Industries Limited, Raigad, India
(Received 8 January 2015; accepted 13 August 2015)

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) yarn with multifunctional properties such as UV protection, antimicrobial property and
cotton-like moisture transport properties was fabricated in a semi-commercial melt spinning machine. Effects of chemical
modications and additives on PET yarn with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and zinc oxide (ZnO) were studied and
reported. It was found that ZnO imparts UV protection and antimicrobial properties and PEG helps to improve moisture
management. Bacteriostatic activity above 3.5 was observed with ZnO incorporation. High wicking length of 15 cm was
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obtained as against 2 cm for control PET fabric of same construction.

Keywords: antibacterial; antimicrobial; bacteria; composite; copolymer; polyethylene terephthalate

Introduction Natural bres are limited and depend on agriculture

Conventionally, fabrics are used for the basic function of
covering the human body. A fabric made from
multifunctional yarn can perform multiple functions
while providing basic function of covering the body. In
general, multiple functions may include, antimicrobial
property (Ren et al., 2008; Sreekumar, Das, Lal,
Srivastava, & Rao, 2009), UV protection (Hoffmann,
Laperre, Avermaete, Altmeyer, & Gambichler, 2001),
good moisture management, other comfort properties,
ame retardancy and other properties such as auto-
camouage, electromagnetic interference (EMI)
shielding, Infrared (IR) and near infrared (NIR)
reection, and radar signature disruption.
Natural bres such as cotton, silk and wool are
more comfortable than synthetics bres due to better
moisture management properties (moisture regain (MR)
716%) (Gupta & Kothari, 1997; Upasani, Banwari,
Sreekumar, Agarwal, & Kelkar, 2013) owing to large
number of hydrophilic functional groups present in their
molecules and bre morphology. Cotton is made up of
cellulose and is hydrophilic in nature. Presence of OH
groups in cellulose makes the cotton bre hydrophilic.
Viscose, derived from cellulose, also has high moisture
transport properties (Gupta & Kothari, 1997). Synthetic
bres such as polyester (PET), polypropylene (PP) and
acrylic bre are comparatively hydrophobic in nature
with MR values in the range of 01.5% (Gupta &
Kothari, 1997). However, in case of natural bres such
as cotton, wool and silk, even though they are
hydrophilic, they have lower drying rate and may be
uncomfortable during intense physical activity due to
wetness.
and climate conditions such rainfall and hot/cold
atmospheric conditions. The present natural bre
production is insufcient to cloth the entire world and
growing needs of increasing population. The solution is
to produce a synthetic bre with properties of natural
bre. It may be possible to produce inherently
multifunctional natural bres by use of biotechnology.
However, we are yet to see such a natural bre with
several desirable properties. As the chemistry and
engineering of synthetic bre production is in the hands
of bre scientists, it is possible to introduce multiple
desirable properties in commodity synthetic bres. These
multiple desirable properties may include moisture
management, UV Protection and antimicrobial
characteristics. Yarns made out of such bres can be
used for producing sportswear, and also for any outdoor
garments where the climate is hot, humid and/or
exposure to sun light is possible. Such bre can bring
higher premium to bre manufacturers. Introduction of
voids in the bre or generation of grooves on the surface
of synthetic bre by changing cross section of the yarn
can improve wicking and moisture vapour permeability.
Polyester is commonly used for making sportswear.
Synthetic bres such as polyester and nylon can either
be modied during manufacture or coated afterwards
using chemical agents to improve hydrophilic properties,
antibacterial properties or UV protection. However, these
coatings are not durable to long-term laundering. PEG is
hydrophilic in nature and dissolves in water. Oxygen
atoms in PEG molecules can form hydrogen bonds with
water molecules which impart hydrophilic property to
PEG molecules (Heymann & Grubmller, 1999). It has

*Corresponding author. Email: prasad.s.upasani@ril.com

2015 The Textile Institute

 2 P.S. Upasani et al.
been shown that incorporation of PEG improves the
moisture absorption of PET (Branum, Nichols, &
Carnes, 2002; Takke, Behary, Perwuelz, & Campagne,
2011). Takke et al. studied the effect of PEG with
different molecular weights on the moisture management
properties (Takke et al., 2011). They found that PEG
1500 gave better hydrophilic properties to PET compared
to PEG 400 and PEG 3000. PEG 1500 is a waxy solid
which melts around 44 C and is soluble in solvents
such as water, alcohols, ketones and chloroform.
Reaction of polyester with NaOH or partial hydrolysis
also improves its hydrophilic properties (Murphy,
Zeronian, & Sanders, 1982).
Ultra violet radiation is a major cause of skin cancer,
and a protective system capable of absorbing or reecting
UV radiation is required to protect skin. UV protection
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provided by textiles depends on the chemical structure of
the bres (Achwal, 2000). Natural bres such as cotton,
silk, and wool have lower degree of UV radiation
absorption compared to synthetic bres such as PET (Djam,
Rosinskaja, Kizil, & Weinberg, 2001; Schuicrer, 1997).
Dadvar et al. in their paper described the UV
protection and photocatalytic properties of TiO2
nanolm-coated electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN)
system (Dadvar, Tavanai, Dadvar, Morshed, & Ghodsi,
2011). Zinc oxide (ZnO) has been used by several
researchers for both UV protection and antimicrobial
property in textiles (Broasca et al., 2013; El Shafei &
Abou-Okeil, 2011). Cotton fabric has been rendered
antimicrobial and UV protective by coating with ZnO
and carboxymethyl chitosan (Broasca et al., 2013). Zinc
oxide is known to have photocatalytic activity. In the
presence of UVvisible light, it can decompose dye
molecules and organic matter (Pung, Lee, & Aziz,
2012). ZnO strongly absorbs in UV region of spectrum.
Increase in concentration of ZnO in polymer composites
increases the absorption of UV radiation which
effectively increases UV light protection (Ge et al.,
2010). Other method of introducing antimicrobial
property in yarn and fabric is by silver nanoparticles.
Silver nanoparticles can be either coated or impregnated
in the yarn to give antimicrobial property (Sreekumar,
Das, Chandra, Srivastava, & Rao, 2009).
Synthetic bres with multiple functionalities can be
produced using suitable additives (Sreekumar, Kelkar,
Jain, Upasani, & Agarwal, 2013). Currently, textiles
based on synthetic bres are commonly used in sports
application due to their advantages of better moisture
transport and wicking properties. Their cross section,
denier and other properties can be optimised to obtain
desired properties. Specialised bres such as hollow
nylon bre, polyester yarn with Y shape cross section or
bicomponent yarns made using two different polymers
have been used for making sportswear. Hollow nylon
provides good water absorbency and heat retentive
property. Polyester yarn with Y shape cross section
exhibits faster release of perspiration by capillary action,
at the same time, hydrophobic surface and large lament
surface area also facilitate in faster drying of
perspiration. Other bres such as polypropylene
microber offer advantages such as light weight, soft
handle, faster drying and bacteriostatic properties
(Chowdhury, Samanta, Basak, 2014).
In this study, we have described the process for making
multifunctional polyester yarn where modied PET
containing PEG and ZnO provides moisture management,
antimicrobial and UV protection characteristics.
Materials
Commercial grade puried terephthalic acid (PTA) and
monoethylene glycol (MEG) was supplied by Reliance
Industries Limited. Commercial grade PEG 1500 was
supplied by India Glycols Limited. Analytical grade
Antimony trioxide (Sb2O3) supplied by SD Fine Chem
Limited was used as catalyst for polycondensation
reaction. Laboratory reagent grade ZnO was supplied by
SD Fine Chem Limited.
Methods
Synthesis of PET
Six kilogram PTA, 4.5 kg MEG and 2.1 g Sb2O3 powder
were mixed using laboratory stirrer and the mixture was
added to the esterier vessel of the batch reactor.
Schematic of the reactor is shown in the Figure 1. MEG:
PTA mole ratio was kept at 2:1. Esterication reaction
was carried out in a 10-l reactor at 260 C under 2 bar
nitrogen pressure for 4 h to make oligomer. At the end
of esterication reaction, the reactor was depressurised
and melted PEG 1500 was added to the reactor. Polymer
Figure 1. Schematic of reactor used for making PET polymer.
Note: (1) Esterication vessel, (2) condenser, (3) transfer line,
(4) polycondensation vessel, (5) vacuum, (6) water bath and (7)
polymer strand.
 The Journal of The Textile Institute
batches containing 0, 2, 5, 8 and 10% PEG-1500
(w/w of PET polymer) were made. The oligomer
was then transferred to polycondensation vessel and
polycondensation reaction was carried out at 285 C for
90 min while the pressure was gradually reduced over
45 min to 1 mm of Hg to obtain the PET polymer. The
PET polymer formed was extruded into cold water in the
form of strands which were cut using strand cutter to get
PET chips.
ZnO masterbatch (MB) preparation
For addition of ZnO in the yarn, 20% masterbatch was
used. ZnO masterbatch was made by mixing PET
powder and ZnO powder in the ratio 80:20 and
compounding was carried out on twin screw extruder to
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make strands which were cut using strand cutter.
Spinning
PET chips were crystallised at 120 C and dried at
150 C in vacuum oven for 24 h before melt spinning.
Partially oriented yarn (POY) was made on pilot
scale melt spinning system consisting of a single screw
extruder with gravimetric feeder and a spinning block
containing spinneret. Schematic of the melt spinning
machine is shown in the Figure 2. Melt spinning
temperatures for control PET- and PEG-modied PET
are given in Table 1. Winding of POY was done at 2900
metre/min. speed to make POY of denier 135/36.
Figure 2. Schematic of spinning machine.
Note: (1) Hopper, (2) gravimetric feeder for MB, (3) extruder,
(4) polymer melt metering pump, (5) spin pack, (6) laments,
(7) spin nish applicator, (8) take up roller, (9) Godet rollers
and (10) winder.
3
Control yarn was made using homo PET and
multifunctional yarn was made with PET-PEG
copolymer (90:10 w/w) and 2% ZnO (Figure 3). ZnO
was added during melt spinning using ZnO masterbatch.
Polymer containing 10% PEG 1500 was selected for
making yarn as it showed higher MR (0.65%) compared
to polymer containing lower concentrations of PEG 1500.
Our previous work indicated that 2% ZnO concentration
in yarn gives strong antibacterial activity which reduces
with decrease in ZnO concentration, hence 2% ZnO was
added to yarn. PEG 1500 and ZnO concentrations above
10 and 2%, respectively, in PET deteriorate spinning
performance signicantly and hence were not tried.
POY texturing and knitting
135/36 denier POY was textured on Aallidhra pilot
texturing machine to make 75/36 textured yarn. Texturing
was done at 500 metre/min speed. Primary and secondary
heater temperatures were maintained at 180 C and
125 C, respectively, and draw ratio was kept at 1.8. 150
gsm knitted fabric was made on circular knitting machine
for further study.
Characterisation
Intrinsic viscosity (IV) of polymer chips samples was
determined by Ubbelohde capillary viscometer. Twenty-
ve millilitres of 0.5% polymer solution made in 60/40
Phenol/1,1,2,2 Tetrachloroethane mixture was taken in
viscometer. Flow time was measured at 30 C and IV
was calculated using equation,
Intrinsic viscosity = 0.25(r-1 + 3 ln r)/C
where
r = Relative viscosity = t/t0
t = Average polymer solution ow time in seconds
t0 = Average solvent ow time in seconds
C = Polymer solution concentration, g/dL
IV values of polymer samples are given in Table 2.
IR spectra of fabric samples were recorded on
Perkin-Elmer Spectrum One FTIR Spectrometer in the
range of 4000650 cm1. Horizontal attenuated total
reectance method was used for recording IR spectra.
Zinc Selenide crystal was used for recording spectra.
Spectral resolution was 4.0 cm1 and 108 scans were
accumulated to get nal IR spectra. Thermal behaviour
of yarn samples was studied by differential scanning
calorimetry (DSC) which was performed on Perkin-
Elmer DSC-7 instrument. DSC was carried out under
nitrogen atmosphere and 20 L aluminium pans were
used for packing the yarn samples. Measurements were
made with 8 mg samples in temperature range between
30 and 270 C at a scanning rate of 10 C/min.
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was done on Perkin-
Elmer Pyris 1 TGA instrument in nitrogen atmosphere in
 4 P.S. Upasani et al.
Table 1. Melt spinning temperature (C).
Polymer identity Zone 1
Control PET 285
PEG-PET copolymer (10% PEG 1500) 270
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Figure 3. SEM of POY samples (a) Control PET (b) PEG-PET
copolymer with 2% ZnO.
the temperature range 30600 C. Textured Yarn samples
were tested at 25 C on Instron 5567 tensile testing
machine to determine mechanical properties.
To study the MR, PET chips were dried at 150 C
under vacuum for 24 h. The samples were then weighed
and transferred to a desiccator containing saturated
solution of NaNO2 at 25 C for 96 h which gives 65%
relative humidity in a closed system. The difference in
weight of the chips before and after conditioning reported
in percentage is considered as MR. Moisture content of
samples was determined using Computrac Vapor Pro
moisture analyser by heating the samples at 170 C and
calculating the weight loss. Water absorbency of fabric
was also studied using AATCC 79200 method by
placing a drop of water on fabric and time required for
complete absorption of water drop was noted.
Contact angle of the fabric samples was measured on
Kruss G10 contact angle measuring system. Water drop
was placed on the fabric sample using the syringe and
contact angle was measured after 5 s.
Table 2. Intrinsic viscosity of polymer samples.
Intrinsic viscosity
Polymer identity (dL/g)
Control PET, 0% PEG 1500 0.635
PEG-PET copolymer with 2% PEG 1500 0.644
PEG-PET copolymer with 5% PEG 1500 0.652
PEG-PET copolymer with 8% PEG 1500 0.664
PEG-PET copolymer with 10% PEG 1500 0.681
Extruder
Zone 2 Zone 3 Zone 4 Melt metering pump Spin pack
285 285 290 290 290
270 270 275 275 275
Transmittance of the fabric samples was measured
on Gretag MacBeth Color Eye 7000A color
spectrophotometer in the range 360750 nm.
Antibacterial activity of the fabric samples was
determined by JIS L 1902 2008 method using
Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumonia
bacteria. The fabric samples were suspended in bacterial
inoculum for 18 h and bacterial concentration was
determined before and after incubation period. Wicking
height was measured as per AATCC 197 method. A
2.5 25 cm fabric strip was vertically aligned with
lower end touching the water, placed in beaker. Wicking
height was measured after 30 min.
Results and discussion
IV, SEM, FTIR, DSC and TGA
IV values of polymer samples are given in Table 2. Data
shows that increase in PEG 1500 concentration in
polymer gives higher IV. Figure 3 shows scanning
electron microscope image of control POY and POY
containing PEG 1500 and ZnO. The surface shows the
presence of ZnO particles on the surface of PEG-PET
copolymer. These ZnO particles impart antibacterial and
UV absorbing property to the yarn.
The FTIR scan of both multifunctional and control
PET fabrics are given in Figure 4. It shows
characteristics peaks corresponding to CH, C=O and
CO groups of PTA, monoethylene glycol and
polyethylene glycol (PEG). Peaks in the range of 2800
3000 cm1 are due to various CH stretching vibrations.
Similarly, those at 1715 cm1 are due to C=O groups of
the ester linkage. Vibrational frequencies due to CH
vibrations are also visible in the nger print region of
the FTIR spectrum. Major difference in the two
spectrums of multifunctional and control fabric is in the
peak intensities of CH vibrations at 28003000 cm1
region. The peak intensity of multifunctional fabric
(MFF) is very high at this region compared to normal
PET yarn. This is due the fact that MFF contains more
number of CH2- groups as the yarn contains 10% PEG
in the lament (Figure 2). Same trend can be seen in the
nger print region also where intensities of CH-
vibrations are higher in case of MFF. It is interesting to
note that the peak intensity due to C=O stretching at
1715 cm1 is almost same in both cases.
 The Journal of The Textile Institute
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Figure 4. IR Spectra of fabric samples (a) Control fabric (b) Multifunctional fabric.
DSC results show clear differences in the melting
and crystallisation behaviour between control PET fabric
and MFF (Figure 5). The melting point (peak
temperature in the endotherm) of control PET fabric is at
249 C and that of MFF is at 230 C which is nearly
20 C lower. Lower melting point of MFF is attributed
to the presence of PEG which may have caused
imperfections in the crystals and smaller crystal size.
Similar trend can be seen in the crystallisation exotherms
of both the fabric samples. The crystallisation peak
temperature of control PET fabric is 222 C and that of
MFF is 212 C. Lower crystallisation temperature of
Figure 5. DSC of fabric samples (a) Heating curve for
Control PET fabric, (b) heating curve for multifunctional
fabric, (c) cooling curve for Control PET fabric and (d) cooling
curve for Multifunctional fabric.
5
MFF shows its difculty in faster crystallisation or its
tendency to remain in the melt state. The presence of
PEG comonomer in the polymer chain would inuence
the crystallisation process by acting as a defect site. This
could be the reason for lower crystallisation exotherm
peak.
TGA results are summarised in Figure 6. Curve (a)
represents control PET fabric and curve (b) represents
that of MFF. There is clear difference between the two
under the same thermal treatment. The degradation onset
for control PET fabric is ~370 C and that of MFF is
280 C. At 600 C, PET leaves higher residue (~15%)
than MFF (~10%). These results show that control PET
has higher thermal stability. The high thermal stability of
control PET is attributed to aromatic rings present in the
polymer. In PET-PEG copolymer, well-ordered structure
PET is disrupted as more aliphatic groups are introduced
Kiyotsukuri, Masuda, Tsutsumi, Sakai, and Nagata
(1995) also made similar observations.
Yarn mechanical properties
Mechanical properties of textured yarn (PTY) are given
in Table 3. The control PTY shows tenacity 4.3 g/d,
whereas multifunctional PTY shows lower tenacity (4.1).
Marginal reduction in the tenacity may be due to
incorporation of ZnO particles in the polymer. However,
this slight reduction in tenacity did not affect further
downstream processing of the yarn such as knitting and
dyeing.
 6 P.S. Upasani et al.

0.8

0.6

Moisture (%)
0.4

0.2

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Cocentration of PEG 1500 (%)

Figure 7. Moisture (%) Vs PEG 1500 conc. in PET.

Figure 6. TGA curves (a) Control PET fabric (b)
Multifunctional fabric.
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Water imbibition, Wicking height, Absorbency and

Moisture Regain
The introduction of PEG in the PET polymer was
aimed at improving the moisture transport properties of
the PET bres and fabrics. Moisture transport is a
function of moisture absorption and wicking. MR and
moisture absorption are related to hydrophilicity of the
polymer (Das, Das, Kothari, Fanguiero, & Araujo,
2009). Figure 7 shows the effect of PEG on MR of
PET chips. It has been observed that MR increased
with increase in PEG concentration in the polymer.
While pure polyester chips showed a MR value of
0.3%, high PEG incorporation (10%) improved the
regain to 0.65%. Though one could consider higher
concentration of PEG, it makes the copolymer more
and more amorphous and sticky with increase in PEG
concentration. The spinnability of the copolymer was
poor compared to homoPET. Polyester bre accounts
for nearly 50% of all bre materials. Thus, polyester
with above properties would be highly desired.
Takke et al. (2011) also studied the effect of PEG
molecular weight on contact angle. They observed that
PEG-1500 gave least contact angle suggesting that
PEG-1500 is more effective compared to PEG-400 and
PEG-3000.
Contact angle
Water imbibition, absorbency, wicking height and
contact angle are properties related to moisture transport
(Table 4). While control PET picked up 197% of water
with respect to its own weight, multi-functional fabric
(MFF) could imbibe 233% of water. This shows PEG
incorporation could signicantly improve the water
retention ability of the fabric. Hydrophilic nature of PEG
is responsible for this improved afnity towards water.
Water can easily get attached to the oxygen moieties of
the PEG segments in the polymer molecules by
hydrogen bonding. Several different methods are
reported in the literature to incorporate PEG molecule in
PET. Some of them are plasma technique, grafting,
copolymerisation (Das et al., 2009; Harris, 1992), etc.
We have found that high PEG co-polyester is the easiest
and effective way to provide moisture transport
properties to polyester fabrics. There was a signicant
improvement in wicking property of the MFF we
produced. While MFF gave a wicking height of 15 cm,
control PET fabric showed a wicking height of 2 cm
only. The high afnity of fabric to water was also could
be demonstrated by water absorbency test where the
wetting time is measured in seconds. While the control
fabric took more than sixty seconds, MFF took less than

Table 3. Mechanical properties of textured yarn.

Sr. Nos. Property Unit Control yarn Multifunctional yarn

1 Polymer NA Control PET PET-PEG copolymer containing 10% PEG 1500 & 2% ZnO
2 Cross section NA Round Round
3 Denier/ lament NA 75/36 75/36
5 Tenacity (CV%) g/d 4.3 (5.3) 4.1 (6.8)
6 Elongation (CV%) % 27.5 (14.5) 23.2 (16.2)
7 Modulus (CV%) g/d 35 (10.3) 24 (12.8)
 The Journal of The Textile Institute 7

Table 4. Water imbibition, Wicking height, Absorbency and Contact angle of fabric samples.

Water imbibition study

Fabric weight before Fabric weight after water Water Wicking Water Contact angle
Fabric identity imbibition (g) imbibition (g) imbibition (%) height (cm) absorbency (s) after 5 s ()
Control fabric 3.48 10.34 197 2 >60 112
Multifunctional 3.49 11.62 233 15 2 0
fabric

2 s for wetting (Table 4). Table 4 also gives a

40
comparison of contact angle of control PET fabric and
MFF. Contact angle quanties the wettability of a fabric 35
a

Transmittance (%)
surface by water droplets. Lower the contact angle, 30
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better the wettability. The contact angle of MFF was 25

zero within 5 s of dropping water on the fabric surface 20
and that of control PET fabric continued to be above 15 b
110 even after 5 s. Figure 8 shows the photograph of 10
the fabric after 5 s. The water droplet was seen intact in
5
case of control fabric, and in case of MFF, the droplet
0
was disappeared and completely absorbed by the fabric. 360 370 380 390 400
Since the PEG is added during reaction, the PEG reacts Wavelength (nm)
with the PTA molecules and becomes a part of the
polymer molecule, which means that the hydrophilic
Figure 9. Transmittance (%) of knitted fabric samples. (a)
property of the yarn is permanent and does not reduce Control fabric and (b) multifunctional fabric.
after washing.

UV Protection
Figure 9 shows the UV transmittance through control
PET fabric and MFF. The transmittance of light in the
UV region is very low for MFF (<10%) compared to
control PET fabric which shows higher transmittance
(~25%). This means very high UV protection is
provided by MFF. Kathirvelu, Louis, and Bhaarathi
(2009) reported the use of ZnO nanoparticles to improve
the UV protection of cotton and polyester fabrics. It is
also known that fabric porosity, thickness and weight
can inuence the UV protection factor. In this case, both
fabrics were of the same construction and GSM. This
clearly shows the presence of ZnO in the yarn has
signicant inuence on the UV transmittance of fabrics.
(a) (b)
Figure 8. Contact angle of fabric (a) Control PET fabric (b)
Multifunctional fabric.
Antimicrobial properties
Zinc oxide is well known for its antibacterial properties.
Its antibacterial property is thought to be due to
disruption of cell membrane activity (Brayner et al.,
2006). Another proposed mechanism for antibacterial
action of zinc oxide is by generation of reactive oxygen
species which react with the bacterial cells (Jones, Ray,
Ranjit, & Manna, 2008; Sawai, 2003). Zinc oxide shows
both bacteriostatic and bactericidal properties.
Incorporation of ZnO particles in the yarn imparts
antibacterial properties to the yarn. Antibacterial property
of the fabric was measured by JIS L 1902: 2008 method.
Results of antibacterial test are given in Table 5. As per
Hohenstein criteria, control fabric sample shows slight
antimicrobial activity (1 S < 3) and MFF shows strong
antimicrobial activity (S 3.5), which indicates strong
bacteriostatic property of the fabric which means that
fabric prevents growth of bacterial colonies. Bactericidal
activity (L) of MFF is much higher (2.33, 2.23)
compared to control fabric (0.74, 0.86) which means that
when bacteria come in contact with fabric, they are
killed by the interaction of ZnO present on the yarn
surface. This bacteriostatic and bactericidal property of
the fabric is very useful to reduce the smell caused by
the sweat. Generally the sweat as such does not have
any smell. The decomposition of fatty acids and lipids
 8 P.S. Upasani et al.

Table 5. Antibacterial property of fabric samples.

(a) Test Bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6358P

Quantitative assessment of activity JIS L 1902: 2008
Concentration of inoculum (Ma): 1.07 105 Log = 5.02
Concentration after 18-h incubation (Mb): 2.88 106 Log = 6.54
Growth value (F = Mb Ma): 1.52

Nos. bacteria Log bacteria

Fabric identity recovered recovered (Mc) Bacteriostatic activity (S) = Mb - Mc Bactericidal activity (L) = Ma Mc
Control fabric 19,200 4.28 2.26 0.74
Multifunctional 500 2.69 3.85 2.33
Fabric

(b) Test bacteria: Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 4352

Quantitative Assessment of Activity JIS L 1902: 2008
Concentration of Inoculum (Ma): 1.18 105 Log = 5.07
Concentration after 18-h incubation (Mb): 8.30 106 Log = 6.91
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Growth Value (F = Mb Ma): 1.84

Fabric identity Nos. of bacteria Log bacteria Bacteriostatic activity (S) = Mb Mc Bactericidal activity (L) = Ma Mc
recovered recovered (Mc)

Control fabric 16,400 4.21 2.70 0.86

Multifunctional 700 2.84 4.07 2.23
fabric
Notes: Ma = Logarithm of Concentration of Starting bacterial/ fungal inoculum (CFU/ml).
Mb = Logarithm of number of bacteria after 18-h incubation on untreated sample (average of 3 specimens).
Mc = Logarithm of number of bacteria after 18-h incubation on treated sample (average of 3 specimens).

present in sweat by the bacteria produces molecules References

which cause bad odour (Buckman, 2003; Martin et al.,
2010). If the bacterial growth is prevented, odour caused
by sweat can be prevented. To see the effect of ZnO on
odour caused by sweat, shirts were made using the
fabric and evaluated by volunteers for odour. Shirts
made from MFF containing ZnO showed signicant
inhibition of odour caused by sweat.
Conclusion
We have successfully demonstrated preparation of
multifunctional PET yarn by polymer modication and
addition of ZnO particles. Addition of PEG 1500
improved the hydrophilicity of fabric and addition of
ZnO imparts UV protection and antimicrobial property
to the fabric. The improved hydrophilicity and sweat
odour resistance of fabric provides comfort to the wearer
along with protection of skin from UV light.
Acknowledgements
Authors would like to acknowledge Reliance Industries
Limited, for the nancial help to carry out this work.
Disclosure statement
No potential conict of interest was reported by the authors.
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