Application of Sensitized Silver Nanoparticles on Pretreated Polyester and Silk Fabrics with...

This article studies the effect of surface modification of polyester (PET) and silk fabrics by exposing to cold plasma discharge. The cold plasma discharge was proceeded using oxygen/Argon mixed gas as a working gas and different plasma device parameters have been studied such as: different time, different current and different hydrostatic pressure. Treated fabrics are characterized by the measurements and evaluation of mechanical properties, air permeability, Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) and the changes in surface morphological of pretreated fabrics were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX)). Then the exposed plasma fabrics at optimum conditions were modified with prepared nano-silver. The antibacterial activity for treated fabrics against gram positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aurous) and gram negative bacteria (Escherichia coli) were examined. Also the ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) values increase for both exposed fabrics but the increase is not significant in silk fabrics while antibacterial properties were highly improved by the treatment of fabric. As an applied part for the efficiency of the plasma and nano-treatment, oxygen and oxygen/argon mixed gas plasma and/or nano-silver treated silk samples were separately dyed with Natural Red Lac Dye. Finally, as a metrological part, the uncertainty budget of tensile strength measurement of polyester samples was calculated and analyzed with a well verified traceability via applying all the measurements which are traceable to SI units.