ANTIMICROBIAL AND WATER REPELLENCY PERFORMANCE OF POLYPROPYLENE OUTDOOR FABRICS SUBJECTED TO SEQUENTIAL FINISHING PROCESSES

Abstract

Polypropylene fabrics are one of the most preferred products for outdoor textiles. With the risks posed by the pandemic in the last year, outdoor textiles are expected to have some additional features such as antibacterial, antivirus, antimildew properties. Antimicrobial finishing and water repellency treatment may be applied consecutively on polypropylene fabrics. This research aims to investigate the effect of sequential finishing process by applying of different antimicrobial chemical ratio (0, 5 and 10 g/l) and fluorocarbon-based water repelling substance (0, 30 and 50 g/l) on antimicrobial efficiency and water repellency grades of outdoor fabrics. According to the results of statistical analyses, it was determined that antimicrobial efficiency against S. aureus and C. albicans was statistically influenced from process type at significance level of 0.05, while antimicrobial efficiency against E.coli microorganism was not statistically influenced from process type. Antimicrobial activity of outdoor samples was more satisfying against S. aureus microorganism. Water repellency results generally improved as the applied amount of water repellent substance increased for the fabrics treated with the same amount of antimicrobial substance.