Combination of Pre- and Post-Mercerization Processes for Cotton Fabric

Banana fibre-chitosan-guar gum composite as an alternative wound healing material

Bio-composites, which can be obtained from the renewable natural resources, are fascinating material for use as sustainable biomaterials with essential properties like biodegradable, bio-compatibility as well cyto-compatibility etc. These properties are useful for bio-medical including wound healing applications. In this study, fibre obtained banana pseudo stem of banana plant, which is otherwise wasted, was used as a material along with chitosan and guar gum to fabricate a banana fibre-biopolymer composite patch. The physiochemical properties of the patches were examined using Fourier Transformed Infra-red spectrophotometer (FT-IR), tensile tester, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), contact angle tester, swelling and degradation studies. We further demonstrated that a herbal drug, Nirgundi could be loaded to the patch showed controlled its release at different pHs. The patch had good antibacterial property and supported proliferation of mouse fibroblast cells. The study thus indicates that banana fibre-chitosan-guar gum composite can be developed into an alternative wound healing material.

Cellulosic Textiles-An Appealing Trend for Different Pharmaceutical Applications

Cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer in nature, is derived from various sources. The production of pharmaceutical textiles based on cellulose represents a growing sector. In medicated textiles, textile and pharmaceutical sciences are integrated to develop new healthcare approaches aiming to improve patient compliance. Through the possibility of cellulose functionalization, pharmaceutical textiles can broaden the applications of cellulose in the biomedical field. This narrative review aims to illustrate both the methods of extraction and preparation of cellulose fibers, with a particular focus on nanocellulose, and diverse pharmaceutical applications like tissue restoration and antimicrobial, antiviral, and wound healing applications. Additionally, the merging between fabricated cellulosic textiles with drugs, metal nanoparticles, and plant-derived and synthetic materials are also illustrated. Moreover, new emerging technologies and the use of smart medicated textiles (3D and 4D cellulosic textiles) are not far from those within the review scope. In each section, the review outlines some of the limitations in the use of cellulose textiles, indicating scientific research that provides significant contributions to overcome them. This review also points out the faced challenges and possible solutions in a trial to present an overview on all issues related to the use of cellulose for the production of pharmaceutical textiles.

Optimization and prediction of the cotton fabric dyeing process using Taguchi design-integrated machine learning approach

The typical textile dyeing process calls for a wide range of operational parameters, and it has always been difficult to pinpoint which of these qualities is the most important in dyeing performance. Consequently, this research used a combined design of experiments and machine learning prediction models' method to offer a sustainable and beneficial reactive cotton fabric dyeing process. To be more precise, we built a least square support vector regression (LSSVR) model based on Taguchi's statistical orthogonal design (L₂₇) to predict exhaustion percentage (E%), fixation rate (F%), and total fixation efficiency (T%) and color strength (K/S) in the reactive cotton dyeing process. The model's prediction accuracy was assessed using many measures, including root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and the coefficient of determination (R²). Principal component regression (PCR), partial least square regression (PLSR), and fuzzy modelling were some of the other types of regression models used to compare results. Our findings reveal that the LSSVR model greatly outperformed competing models in predicting the E%, F%, T%, and K/S. This is shown by the LSSVR model's much smaller RMSE and MAE values. Overall, it provided the highest possible R² values, which reached 0.9819.

Adsorption Behaviour of Reactive Blue 194 on Raw Ramie Yarn in Palm Oil and Water Media

As an edible oil, palm oil is also safe and reliable in dyeing, and the residual palm oil after dyeing can be recycled and used continuously, which is green and environmentally friendly and has great research prospects. In this research, raw ramie yarn, used for traditional grass cloth, was dyed in a palm oil medium using Reactive Blue 194. Studying the adsorption and diffusion behaviour in the dyeing process is necessary. Additionally, the kinetics and isotherm model of dyeing raw ramie yarn with Reactive Blue 194 in palm oil is studied, and the adsorption behaviour between them is discussed. For a better understanding, the raw ramie yarn dyeing adsorption behaviour was also carried out in a water medium. It was found that the dyeing rates in palm oil are distinctly faster than in water. Kinetics data suggested that the pseudo-second-order model fitted for both dyeing mediums (palm oil and water) of the adsorption of the Reactive Blue 194 dye onto raw ramie yarn. Afterward, the adsorption isotherms' results denote that the Langmuir model was suitable for palm oil dyeing medium while the Freundlich model was suited for water medium. Overall, this study has demonstrated that raw ramie yarn dyeing in a palm oil medium could be a sustainable colouration route for textile fibres with a greater dye exhaustion percentage.

Sustainable and eco-friendly dyeing of traditional grass cloth with a reactive dye in palm oil medium

Traditional grass cloth has been used in China for a long time for the manufacturing of various household furnishing textiles and ladieswear. However, traditionally the grass cloth is dyed with reactive dyes in an aqueous medium, but the dyeing process is not sustainable because of high energy and water usage and the production of coloured effluent. In this work, the possibility of palm oil/water dual-phase dyeing of traditional grass cloth with a reactive dye, C.I. Reactive Blue 194 (Reactive Blue 194), was explored. The grass cloth soaked in an alkaline solution with 80-140% pick-up was dyed in a palm oil dyebath containing dye powder dispersed in a palm oil medium. The initial study confirmed that the pre-treatment of the fabric with an alkaline solution with 140% pick-up was beneficial for the uniform distribution of the dye in the fibres. The dyeing process parameters (e.g., fixation temperature, solution pH, and fixation time) for the grass cloth dyeing with the Reactive Blue 194 were optimised by using the Taguchi method. The pH of the alkali pre-treatment solution was found to be the most influential factor, as confirmed by the analysis of variance in terms of the percentage of contribution (94.41%), which was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The confirmation tests were carried out under optimal settings, and a higher K/S (24.06) was found compared with the initial condition (21.51). X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the dyeing process did not affect the crystallinity of the grass cloth fibres. Furthermore, the recovery of palm oil from the spent dyebath was around 99%, and up to five times recycling and reuse of palm oil were studied for the dyeing of grass cloth. The colour strength of the grass cloths dyed in the palm oil recycled up to five times was similar to the cloth dyed in fresh palm oil. The results show that palm oil can be used as a dyeing medium for the sustainable dyeing of grass cloth with effluent reduction, which can be extended to the dyeing of other textile fibres.

Sustainable traditional grass cloth fiber dyeing using the Taguchi L16 (4^4) orthogonal design

For many centuries, traditional grass cloth has been used as an important raw material for home textiles in China, but its market can be expanded by incorporating color. Reactive Red 2 (R2), Reactive Blue 194 (B194), and Reactive Orange 5 (O5) were used in this work to explore the dyeing behavior of sustainable traditional grass fiber using industrial dyeing methods. Initially, an L16 (4^4) orthogonal design was schematically applied to carry out the dyeing process and it was determined that the total dye fixation rate (T%) of B194 dye was the best among the three dyes. Accordingly, a statistical Taguchi technique was analyzed on a larger scale to optimize the dyeing process parameters (salt concentration, fixation time, fixation temperature, and solution pH) of B194, in which solution pH was found to be the most influential factor in achieving the highest T%. This phenomenon was also verified using analysis of variance (ANOVA), where the solution pH was found to be the biggest contributor (50%) and statistically significant (p < 0.05). Finally, confirmation tests were conducted under optimized conditions and a higher T% (53.18%) was determined compared to initial conditions (48.40%). Later, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to analyze the structural characteristics and found that grass cloth was chemically stable, yet gummy materials were still observed on their surface, which was also confirmed from digital photographs. Generally, the color coordinates and fastness properties were also satisfactory.

Development of Wash-Durable Antimicrobial Cotton Fabrics by In Situ Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles and Investigation of Their Antimicrobial Efficacy against Drug-Resistant Bacteria

An environment friendly and wash-durable silver nanoparticle treatment of cotton fabrics was carried out by in situ reduction of silver nitrate using Azadirachta indica leaf extract. The wash durability of the silver nanoparticles treatment on the cotton fabric was improved by pretreating the fabrics by mercerization and by adopting hydrothermal conditions of 120 °C temperature and 15 psi pressure for the in situ synthesis. The silver nanoparticle treated fabrics were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, colorimetric analysis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. The coating of silver nanoparticles was seen to be dense and uniform in the scanning electron micrographs of the treated fabrics. An evaluation of the antibacterial efficacy of the silver nanoparticle treated fabric against antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains was carried out. The antibacterial efficacy was found to be the highest against Bacillus licheniformis, showing 93.3% inhibition, whereas it was moderate against Klebsiella pneumoniae (20%) and Escherichia coli (10%). The transmittance data of a UV spectrophotometer (290–400nm) was used for measuring the UV protection factor of the silver nanoparticle treated fabrics. All the silver nanoparticle treated fabrics showed good antimicrobial and UV protection activity. The treatment was also seen to be durable against repeated laundering. This paper contributes the first report on a novel green synthesis approach integrating mercerization of cotton fabrics and in situ synthesis of nanoparticles under hydrothermal conditions using Azadirachta indica leaf extract for improved wash durability of the multifunctional fabric.