Development of antibacterial fibers and study on effect of guar-gum addition on properties of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)/alginate fibers

The effect of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) addition on the tensile and absorption properties of alginate fibers had been reported in the previous research. Great increase in absorbency was observed due to addition of CMC to calcium alginate fibers but was not balanced with mechanical strength. By addition of CMC dry and wet strength of composite fibers was reduced, therefore, a balance was needed between the absorbency of the fibers and mechanical strength. The effect to introduce another component i.e. Guar-gum on overall mechanical and absorbency characteristics is reported here. In comparison to CMC/alginate co-spun fibers, it was shown that inclusion of guar-gum improves the tensile strength as well as absorbency of composite fibers. CMC/guar-gum/alginate fibers were extruded through two different coagulation baths. In first step the dope solution was extruded through CaCl₂ coagulation bath. The dope of optimized composite fiber formulation with adjusted mechanical property and absorption was extruded, then, through 50:50 CaCl₂ and ZnCl₂ coagulation bath. The formed CMC/guar-gum/Zn/alginate composite fibers were found excellent for medical applications with their super absorbency along with equivalent mechanical strength and high antibacterial efficacy. (paper)