Fire retardant properties enhancement of cotton twill fabric using pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) extract

Health hazards and environmental pollution are major concerns in present world. So, it is high time to think about ecofriendly and sustainable production. In this study, pumpkin juice has been used as an ecofriendly flame retardant finish to enhance the functionality of cotton twill fabric. The pumpkin juice extracted from the fresh pumpkin without any chemicals. The cotton fabric was treated with pumpkin juice in exhaust method. The treated and untreated samples were characterized by TGA, FTIR, SEM, and EDX. The flame-retardant property of the samples were evaluated based on the LOI and vertical flame tester. The result demonstrated that the treated samples exhibited high fire-retardant properties after being finished with pumpkin juice. The LOI value of the treated samples increased to 29 from 19 after treatment. The main reason behind the increased flammability is the dehydration of pumpkin juice-treated fabric which was clarified from the TG analysis. Moreover, the FTIR, SEM, and EDX report ensured the presence of bound and unbound water molecules, different salt, and several atoms in the samples treated with pumpkin juice that enhanced the protection against the spreading of the fire and thus improved fire-retardant properties of the treated samples.

Bioactive Khadi Cotton Fabric by Functional Designing and Immobilization of Nanosilver Nanogels

The antimicrobial finishing is the most suitable alternative for designing medical textiles for biomedical applications. The present investigation aims at the preparation of skin-contacting khadi cotton fabric that would prevent microbial infection and offer excellent skin compatibility. A simple approach has been followed for the preparation of bioactive nanogels for antimicrobial finishing of the khadi cotton fabric. Bioactive nanogels were synthesized by using aloe vera (AV) as a reducing agent for silver ions in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). PVA stabilizes the growth of silver nanoparticles, which is influenced by the variation in the reaction time and the temperature. Nanogels were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy analyses. The nanogels exhibited strong antimicrobial behavior against both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, as confirmed by the colony count method. Almost 100% antibacterial behavior was observed for the nanosilver content of 10 mM. The nanogel-finished khadi fabric showed bactericidal properties against both S. aureus and E. coli. The nanogel-finished fabric exhibited high hydrophilicity allowing complete water droplet penetration within 10 s as compared to 136 s in virgin fabric. Moreover, the skin irritation study of the fabric on male Swiss albino mice did not show any appearance of dermal toxicity. These results demonstrated that the bioactive finished khadi fabric is appropriate as skin contacting material in human health care.