Dyeing Improvement and Stability of Antibacterial Properties in Chitosan-Modified Cotton and Polyamide 6,6 Fabrics.

Cotton and polyamide 6,6 fabrics coated with chitosan, a natural biopolymer, have been tested against two different bacteria strains: as Gram-positive bacterium and as Gram-negative bacterium. Using the ASTM standard method (Standard Test Method for Determining the Antimicrobial Activity of Antimicrobial Agents Under Dynamic Contact Conditions) for antibacterial testing, the treated fabrics is contacted for 1 h with the bacterial inoculum, the present study aims to investigate the possibility to reach interesting results considering shorter contact times. Moreover, the antibacterial activity of chitosan-treated fibers dyed with a natural dye, , was evaluated since chitosan has an interesting property that favors the attachment of the dye to the fiber (cross-linking ability).