Development of cotton fabric with antibacterial properties: Part I: Preparation of poly(acrylamide-co-itaconic acid) grafted cotton fabric and its water uptake analysis

Graft co-polymerization of monomers acrylamide (AAm) and itaconic acid (IA) on to cotton fabric has been carried out in aqueous medium using ceric ammonium nitrate as initiator under the catalytic activity of nitric acid. The cotton fabric was optimally initiated in 20mM aqueous solution of initiator for 15min, followed by its immersion in aqueous solution containing of monomers AAm and IA, and cross-linker N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide (MB)at 30 degrees C. To obtain optimum conditions, the percent grafting was investigated as a function of concentration of the monomers, the cross-linker and the initiator, reaction temperature and time of immersion for initiation. The grafted cotton fabric was also investigated for its water uptake behavior.