Abstract:

Improved hygiene and health care standards have a great impact on the development of hygiene and health care products. For this purpose, viscose is a very popular substrate. One of the most promising anti-microbial compounds of modern times is chitosan. The anti-microbial action of this polysaccharide depends on the amino group amount, which is crucial for ensuring the effectiveness of anti-microbial treated material. In textile finishing, 1,2,3,4–buthanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) is usually used as a non-formaldehyde crease-resistant reagent. But, on the other hand, the negatively charged carboxyl groups of BTCA can be explored as additional binding sites for positively-charged protonated amino groups of chitosan. When using microwaves, polar materials (e.g. chitosan) orient and reorient themselves according to the direction of the electro-magnetic field, which means that chitosan chain-bending may have taken place during the drying with microwaves. This could result in a higher specific surface of the chitosan and, consequently, in a higher proportion of available amino groups. It is concluded that the combination chitosan/BTCA supported by microwaves drying represents an ideal combination to increase the proportion of available amino groups.