Wettability and antibacterial assessment of chitosan containing radiation‐induced graft nonwoven fabric of polypropylene‐g‐acrylic acid

Abstract The grafting of acrylic acid (AA) onto polypropylene (PP) nonwoven fabric was induced by γ‐ray irradiation without degassing to obtain PP‐ g ‐AA–modified nonwoven fabric. Chitosan was immobilized onto the PP‐ g ‐AA–modified nonwoven fabric with 1‐ethyl‐3‐(3‐dimethyamino propyl) carbidiimide to get the chitosan‐containing PP‐ g ‐AA–modified nonwoven fabric. The PP‐ g ‐AA–modified nonwoven fabrics were characterized by IR spectroscopy. In addition to the absorption peaks associated with pure PP nonwoven fabric, absorption peaks at 1700 cm −1 (CO) and at about 2950 cm −1 for the COOH group were also found for the PP‐ g ‐AA–modified nonwoven fabric. The chitosan‐containing PP‐ g ‐AA nonwoven fabric obtained had an absorption peak at about 1475–1580 cm −1 (CONH), in addition to those of the PP‐ g ‐AA nonwoven fabric. The effects of acrylic acid grafting content and chitosan on the wettability and antibacterial assessment were investigated. The wicking time of water on the PP‐ g ‐AA–modified nonwoven fabric decreased with increasing acrylic acid grafting content and chitosan, whereas the water content on the PP‐ g ‐AA–modified nonwoven fabric increased. Because the concentration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on the PP‐ g ‐AA–modified nonwoven fabric decreased with increasing acrylic acid grafting content and chitosan, it means that the antibacterial activity of the PP nonwoven fabric was enhanced by the modification of γ‐ray radiation–induced grafting of acrylic acid and the immobilization of chitosan onto the PP‐ g ‐AA–modified nonwoven fabric. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 1331–1336, 2003