Chitosan Coated Cotton Fiber: Physical and Antimicrobial Properties for Apparel Use

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 samples was observed compared to untreated samples probably caused by acidic treatment and the surface coating on fiber following chitosan treatment. Since a small reduction in strength and softness does not overshadow greatly the overall improved performance of treated fabrics, the application of chitosan to cotton fiber is a potential approach to get the desired physical and antimicrobial property for apparel use.