Antimicrobial Acrylic Fiber

Abstract

Fibers have been produced from a blend of poly(acrylonitrile) and poly(styrene hydantoin). The fibers were extruded from a single solvent, dimethyl acetamide. The fiber properties from the blended polymers were somewhat poorer than those from the unmodified acrylic fiber, but were still acceptable. The fibers from the polymer blend could be chlorinated to produce halamines and thus rendered antimicrobial. Antimicrobial test results showed efficacy against S. aureus. The ability to regenerate the halamines (and the antimicrobial functionality) lasted through 50 home laundry washings. The chlorine absorption was shown to be proportional to the specific surface area (m2/g) of the fibers, as might be expected for hydrophobic materials which can react with aqueous reagents only on the fiber surface. Although the fibers produced here were rather larger than those typically used in clothing, the data suggest that a typical diameter fiber of the composition produced here would have a specific surface area to allow chlorine absorption approaching 0.5 %. This level of retained chlorine would certainly produce a highly satisfactory antimicrobial effect - substantially better than the experimental data shown herein.