Aloe vera gel was extracted from the plant and converted to a solvent to serve as an antibacterial finishing agent for cotton fabrics. Various concentrations of the aloe vera solution were applied to fabrics and tested against Staphylococcus bacteria. The 5gpl concentration showed 99.1% bacterial reduction immediately after treatment. Even after 50 washes, the finished fabric maintained over 98% antibacterial effectiveness, demonstrating the durability of the aloe vera finish. The study concluded aloe vera is a promising natural agent that can impart antimicrobial properties to textiles for hygienic applications.

1. ANTIBACTERIAL FINISHING
(Aloe Vera Finish
On Cotton Fabrics)
ARTICLE BY:
JEAKODI MOSES.J AND
MARIYAM ADNAN
BY,
J.KARTHIBA,
BFT/16/L17

2. INTRODUCTION
• Antimicrobial textiles with improved functionality
find a variety of applications such as health and
hygiene products, specially the garments worn
close to the skin and several medical applications,
such as infection control.
• There is a great demand for antimicrobial textiles
based on eco- friendly agents which not only
help to reduce effectively the ill effects
associated due to microbial growth on textile
material but also comply with statutory
requirements imposed by regulating agencies.

3. Antibacterial finish
• The plant products comprise the major
segment among all the natural antibacterial
agents
• Healing power of some of the plant
materials has been used since ancient times
• As consumers have become more aware of
hygiene and potentially harmful effects of
microorganisms, the demand for antimicrobial
finished clothing is increasing.

4. Necessity of Antibacterial Finishes
1. To avoid cross infection by pathogenic
microorganisms
2. To control the infestation by microbes
3. To arrest metabolism in microbes in order to
reduce the formation of odour.

5. Requirements for Antimicrobial
Finish
• Should not produce harmful effects to the
manufacturer, user and the environment.
• Compatibility with the chemical processes.
• No deterioration of fabric quality;
• Resistant to body fluids; and
• Resistant to disinfections/sterilization

6. Fabric treated with aloe gel extract from
Aloevera plant for controlling bacterium
• Extraction of Gel
• Aloe is processed using the hand filtered
or whole leaf procedure.
• The leaf is cut from the plant and washed
with fresh water.
• The top and bottom layer of the leaf is
removed, and the inner gel was stored in
bowl.
• The gel must be cool processed with in 4
hours of harvesting.
• The gel was smashed and converted in to
solvent form.

7. ALOE VERA INNER PART
ALOE VERA PLANT

8. Application of antimicrobial finish
1.Fabrics were immersed in the 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 gpl concentration
of methanol extracted aloe gel for five minutes
2.Padded on a padding mangle individually with citric acid (5.5
pH)
3.Immersed again in the solution for another 5min and squeezed
repeatedly to get a wet pick-up of 80% on weight of the fabric
4.Dried at 80ºC for 3 min and cured at 110ºC for 2 min on a lab
model curing chamber

9. Durability of antimicrobial effect of
treated sample (5 gpl) after 50
washes
Sl. No. Number of
washes
Antimicrobial effect
(%)
1 10 99.70
2 20 99.30
3 30 99.10
4 40 98.40
5 50 98.00

10. Quantitative analysis test results
Sl.
No.
Bacteria
Finishing agent conc.
(gpl)
%of bacteria reduction
after treatment
1 Staphylococcus 1 97.00
2 97.90
3 98.10
4 98.40
5 99.10

11. CONCLUSION
• There is a vast resource of natural antimicrobial
agent, which can be used for imparting useful
antimicrobial property to textile substrates.
• So the consumers are now aware of the hygienic
life style and expecting for a wide range of
textile products.