Open Access

ARTICLE

Gamma Radiation Induced Mutual Grafting of Quaternary Ammonium-Based Monomer on to Rayon Fibers to Improve its Water Absorbency and Antibacterial Efficacy

SUBRATA PAL^1,2, BHUVNESHWAR RAI¹, AJAY KUMAR TYAGI¹, SUNITA RATTAN², VIRENDRA KUMAR³

1 Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, 19, University Road, Delhi-110007, India.
2 Amity Institute of Applied Sciences, AIAS, Amity University, Noida-201303, Uttar Pradesh, India.
3 Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai-400085, India.

* Corresponding Author: e-mail:

Journal of Polymer Materials 2022, 39(1-2), 55-70. https://doi.org/10.32381/JPM.2022.39.1-2.4

Abstract

The present work is focused on the study of antimicrobial and water absorption properties of the surface of grafted rayon fiber with quaternary ammonium-based salts containing 3- Acrylamidopropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (APTAC) monomer induced by gamma radiation. Grafting was qualitatively confirmed by FTIR-ATR,TGA, SEM and by calculating grafting yield and grafting efficiency. The performance was examined for water absorbency and antibacterial efficacy (R) against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Study showed that water absorption, grafting yield and grafting efficiency increased steadily with the increase in monomer concentration and absorbed gamma irradiation dose up to a certain level followed by either slowdown or leveling off the increasing trend. The water absorption and antibacterial efficacy (R) of the APTAC-grafted rayon fiber was found to be substantially enhanced as compared to pristine rayon fiber showing a remarkable 435% increase in water and a four log cycle decrease in the number of living bacteria after 24 hours of incubation.

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Keywords

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