Development of a polymeric composition for antimicrobial and water-resistant cotton fabrics

The paper discusses the development of a new polymer composition based on polyvinylpirrolidone (PVP), benzoic acid and polyvinyl acetate for the antimicrobial and hydrophobic finishing of cotton fabric. The advantage of applying a new composition is the availability of the drugs used , as well as simplicity of the technological process - the finishing is carried out on any drying and tentering machine aggregated with padding machine, combining drying and heat treatment. The developed effective composite material is relatively inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and resistant to wet treatments. The study found that the resistance of the treated tissue to biodegradation, compared with untreated increases by 1.5 times, as evidenced by the growth of this indicator to 102%. It was also revealed that the proposed method of finishing at the same time provides an increase in the abrasion resistance of the fabric by 1.6-2.2 times, and a breaking load by 1.1-1.3 times.