Every summer, mosquitoes start to agitate, and mosquito bites will not only bring troubles to people's lives, but even lead to the spread of certain diseases. Therefore, anti-mosquito textile products have received more and more attention. At present, anti-mosquito textiles are mainly used in outdoor sports textiles and children's clothing.
How to develop anti-mosquito textiles?
The development of anti-mosquito textile products is mainly realized through functional finishing. At present, the anti-mosquito finishing mainly adopts odor repellent. On the one hand, the fabric can be directly finished with the anti-mosquito finishing auxiliary. On the other hand, the volatile mosquito repellent liquid can be coated by microcapsule technology, and the fabric can be finished after finishing. Achieve long-lasting slow-release mosquito repellent effect.
In the anti-mosquito finishing process, the temperature of padding and drying should be controlled within 120°C to avoid high temperature causing low content of anti-mosquito agent on the fabric, thus failing to achieve the durability effect; better adhesives can be used. To enhance the adhesion fastness of the agent to the fabric and improve the washing resistance, it is generally required to wash more than 20 times, and the content of permethrin on the fabric should be above 600mg/kg.
Using 100% Sorona as raw material, the fabric is pre-shrunk to show a micro-crepe effect, disperse dye low-temperature dyeing, and then anti-mosquito finishing. The fabric is soft, delicate and elastic, suitable for outdoor sportswear.
The raw material is Tencel 52.9% + Coolmax 42.4% + spandex 4.7%, using anti-mosquito finishing technology, the fabric is soft, dry, grainy and bumpy. The biggest application feature is to enter the field of outdoor golf from the high-end business field .
The high-repellent anti-mosquito shirt fabric is interwoven with cotton and ammonia blend, which is comfortable to wear. After finishing with the anti-mosquito function, it can effectively avoid mosquitoes, ants, cockroaches, etc., and has a high washing resistance. The anti-mosquito finishing additives used are certified by STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX®, realizing the environmental protection of the processing process.
What additives are used in the finishing of anti-mosquito functions?
Since the anti-mosquito finishing is mainly for odor repellent, the main auxiliaries used are repellent agents. Natural repellents are mainly of plant origin, low or non-toxic, fresh smell, no pollution, but generally low mosquito repellent efficiency and durability. Synthetic repellents mainly include organic esters, aromatic alcohols, unsaturated aldehydes and ketones, amines and amides, etc. The mosquito repellent effect is better than natural repellents. The most commonly used deterrents are DEET and permethrin.
Permethrin is a substance with similar structure synthesized by people inspired by mosquito repellent ingredients in natural chrysanthemum. Studies have found that there is an enzyme in the human body that can decompose permethrin, so permethrin will not cause health effects. Internationally, there are clear regulations that permethrin can be legally used in textile anti-mosquito fabrics. For example, the US EPA allows permethrin to be used in anti-mosquito fabrics; EU Reach regulations stipulate that permethrin can be used in anti-mosquito finishing of textile fabrics; Japan The white paper issued in November 2016 stated that permethrin can be used in the processing of mosquito-resistant textile fabrics.
The anti-mosquito finishing aid EULAN®SPA01 developed by Transchem Chemicals, after anti-mosquito finishing of clothing fabrics, can still have anti-mosquito effects after being washed 50 times. The product has passed the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) test, the textile hazardous substance test STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certification, and the EU biocide regulation (BPR) certification, and it has also passed the SGS acute oral toxicity test and Skin irritation test to ensure that the finished garment fabrics are safe and irritation-free. In addition to being used in the field of clothing, this additive can also be used in nylon stockings, which is extremely practical.
What are the recent research developments in anti-mosquito textiles?
A recent research paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences introduced the new use of graphene in preventing mosquito bites. The researchers compared the number of times the participants’ skin was bitten by mosquitoes when exposed, covered with coarse cloth, or covered with coarse cloth treated with graphene oxide.
The results of the study showed that the presence of graphene oxide changed the biting behavior of mosquitoes. The ultra-thin and strong graphene material can act as a barrier to hinder the passage of mosquitoes. At the same time, graphene also blocks the mosquito's perception of chemical signals, thereby weakening the mosquito's desire to bite. Therefore, a reasonably designed graphene lining can be used to make anti-mosquito clothing.
