Standard Practice Measuring the Durability of Antibacterial Agents Applied to Textiles under Simulated Home Laundering Conditions

Importancia y uso:

5.1 The durability of antimicrobial agents applied to textiles is an important attribute for many of the available technologies on the market. Antimicrobial agents that claim durability are typically fixed ionically, covalently or physically, or both, to a textile surface and are expected to retain their antimicrobial functionality after 5, 25 or 50 washes.

5.2 Textile wash standards do exist that measure features as diverse as colorfastness or softener retention, pilling, or even the appearance of the decorative coatings of a zipper; however, no wash method exists that is specific for measuring the durability of an antimicrobial agent applied directly into or onto a textile surface.

5.3 Current wash standards have been written to either closely simulate (AATCC TM135) or accelerate (AATCC TM61) the laundering conditions that would be experienced during normal home laundering. While shown to be effective when testing physical properties of textiles, these methods introduce variables to the washing protocol that can directly affect the final antimicrobial properties of a fabric. For example, many wash protocols add bleach or softeners which can build up over time and may introduce false positive results in industry standard microbiological tests. Conversely, powdered detergents if not completely rinsed after each wash can leave residual surfactants that can build up over time but are generally removed during wear. These residual detergents can potentially coat an antimicrobial surface and provide false negative results.

5.4 Very specific parameters are identified within this practice to closely replicate home launderings as identified and studied in previous wash protocols (AATCC TM61) and accepted within the textile industry. This practice uses detergents and washing conditions which limit potential cross contamination of samples during washing and unrealistic deposition of residual detergents on the test fabric. These conditions increase the reproducibility and reliability of subsequent microbiological test methods.

5.5 This practice allows for the simple washing of textile fabrics for the subsequent antimicrobial testing. Any industry accepted antimicrobial test standard could be used following this washing protocol.

5.6 This practice is appropriate for porous materials such as textiles or any porous, soft substrate that is intended to withstand multiple home washes. This practice is intended to measure the durable antibacterial properties of such materials. In most instances, further studies will be required to support and substantiate actual claims being made for the performance of treated materials in practice or as part of a regulatory process.

5.7 This standard practice has been shown to be effective at measuring the durability of polymer based antimicrobial agents to home laundering conditions. Particle based or other antimicrobial agents may require modifications of the current methodology to simulate laundering conditions in practice. The exact correlation between expressed laundry care instructions on the antimicrobial treated article and the exposure conditions identified in the standard practice must be determined separately for every antimicrobial active.

Subcomité:

E35.15

Referida por:

E2922-23

Volúmen:

11.08

Número ICS:

59.080.01 (Textiles in general)

Palabras clave:

antibacterial testing; home laundering; porous materials; treated articles antimicrobial agents; textile;