Facing the deteriorating ecological environment, human beings are looking forward to natural therapies that can restore the healing ability of the human body; We look forward to the advent of functional textiles that can restore health and improve immunity. The functional textiles involved in this paper refer to the processing of textiles by using the extracts of natural medicinal plants as functional agents, so as to achieve antibacterial, deodorant, moisture absorption, moth-proof, improve skin touch, anti-allergy, treat dermatitis and other processing effects. It should be said that this is a healthy and comfortable processing method.
1. Traditional natural botanicals that can extract functional agents
1. 1 Aloe Vera
The main ingredient of aloe is aloein (phenolic component), which is the bitter juice on the epidermis and inside of aloe leaves, has anti-inflammatory and anti-mutation effects, and has no side effects on human body. In the "clean revolution" series products of Toyo Textile Company of Japan, aloe extract is used as antibacterial agent. Berbtrit, an antibacterial and deodorant agent launched by Daiwa Textile Company of Japan, contains extracts such as aloe vera, mugwort and sapphire. This combination of natural botanicals, in addition to its antibacterial effect, also has a certain nursing effect on the skin.
1.2 Artemisia argyi
Artemisia argyi is a perennial herb in the family Mycobacteriaceae. Its main component is 1,8-cineole, α- Ketone, acetylcholine, choline, etc. have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and promoting blood circulation. The Evercare product of Japan Unitika Company is made from the extract of Artemisia argyi absorbed in the porous microcapsule inorganic substance. Japan also has fabrics dyed with wormwood, which can be processed into pajamas for patients with allergic dermatitis.
1 · 3 Houttuynia cordata
Houttuynia cordata is a perennial herb of the Poaceae family. The medicinal ingredients in the leaves and stems of Houttuynia cordata mainly contain decanoyl acetaldehyde and methyl nonyl ketone lauric acid. It has strong antibacterial effect on staphylococcus and nematodes. Due to its high safety, it is used as a health care and comfortable processing agent for fabrics. Herbcare, a natural antibacterial agent of Daiwa Textile Company of Japan, and Paraglas, an antibacterial agent of Patatiumuu Chemical Company of Japan, both contain Houttuynia cordata extract.
1 · 4 licorice
Licorice is a leguminous perennial herb, mainly produced in China and Afghanistan. It is often used as raw medicine in traditional Chinese medicine. It is a herb that has long been recognized by people. The main ingredient of licorice is sweet glycyrrhizin, which is 150 times sweeter than sucrose. After acidolysis, it produces glycyrrhetinic acid, glucuronic acid and flavonoid glycosides. It has anti-inflammatory, anti-mutation, anti-ulcer and detoxification effects. It has low toxicity and is safe to human body. Amaxan, an antibacterial and deodorant from Japan's Daiwa Textile Company, is made from the natural ingredient of licorice, potassium glycyrrhizinate, which is characterized by anti-allergy and anti-inflammatory.
1 · 5 tea
Tea contains a variety of chemical components, mainly polyphenols, alkaloids (caffeine), catechins, etc. Studies have shown that catechins have inhibitory effects on streptococcus, staphylococcus aureus and other microorganisms. It can also inhibit the activity of tyrosine decarboxylase. In addition, it has many medicinal functions, such as antiviral, fungicidal, detoxification and anticancer. Japan's "Fu Spin" company made catechins from natural tea to process cotton fabrics, and processed the product "Chebavlan Show" with high antibacterial and deodorant functions; "Dahe Textile" company also uses this catechin to process the cotton product "Katankulin" with deodorant and antibacterial function.
1 · 6 pomegranate peel
Pomegranate is a deciduous shrub of Pomegranate family, native to Iran. The peel can be used as medicine. Its extract can inhibit the activity of collagenase, and can develop ecological antibacterial fabrics with high consumption performance. Its pigment composition can be used as a direct dye for cotton fabrics, and can also be used for antibacterial finishing. The experimental results of the Duli Institute of Health in Japan show that pomegranate dyeing has antibacterial and durability in accordance with the evaluation standards of the Sanitary Processing Association when the dyeing concentration is more than 50% (according to the weight of the fabric). In addition, the color fastness conforms to the standard of JIS bath towel. Therefore, Japan is developing pomegranate as an ecological antibacterial finishing agent that does not pollute the environment.
2 Extraction technology and safety test method of effective components of plant drugs
Application of 2 · 1 molecular distiller
The effective ingredients of some botanical drugs are refined by general distillation methods, which will cause polymerization or decomposition, which will reduce the quality and yield, and increase the cost. Especially for the ingredients with high boiling point or strong heat sensitivity, molecular distillers should be used to process to obtain high-quality products.
The characteristics of molecular distiller: 1) The gasification temperature is low during distillation, even lower than the boiling point at its corresponding pressure. 2) Due to the special structure of the equipment, heating and condensation are carried out in a shell, which reduces unnecessary resistance as much as possible, and can obtain extremely low operating pressure during distillation. 3) The distance between the material molecules from the gasification surface to the condensation surface is very short, so the heating time is very short. Generally, within 1 min, the material has little chance of being damaged. Such as patchouli oil and angelica oil.
Application of 2 · 2 carbon dioxide extraction process
Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE): Its working area is generally at a pressure of 200~300Bar and a temperature of 40~80 ℃. The nature of CO2 fluid is between liquid and gas, with strong solubility, and its viscosity is similar to that of gas, with high mass transfer capacity. It is suitable for extracting hops for beer and removing caffeine from coffee or tea. The caffeine in coffee can be reduced from 3% to 0.2% to adapt to people who are not easy to fall asleep. At the same time, the proposed caffeine is also a good natural medicine, which is really a two-hit. In recent years, China has also introduced several sets of devices from Germany to extract ephedrine, turmeric, liquorice and other products for export.
Application of 2 · 3 chromatographic column separation method
This device can separate mixed compounds with boiling points below 300 ℃, especially those with very close boiling points and relative volatility less than 1.2. Like isomers, it is difficult to separate trace impurities and some azeotropic mixtures, which can be separated by unit operations such as fractionation, liquid extraction and fractional crystallization.
Application of 2.4 membrane separation technology
Ultrafiltration: It is used to filter substances with particle size of 1 nm. It can filter some viruses, bacteria, proteins, concentrated fermentation broth, etc., and the operating pressure is between 100 and 1000 kPa.
Reverse osmosis filtration: filtration 1nm~1 μ The ionic substances below m can separate sugar molecules, salt molecules and some metal ions in the solution, and can be used for seawater desalination.
2.5 Routine test methods for safety of botanical drugs
Natural substances do not mean safety, many of which are toxic. Which botanical drugs can be used for textile finishing can be implemented by referring to the pharmacopoeia and relevant regulations of the application of botanical drugs in cosmetics. The safety test shall be conducted before the use of plant drug extracts that are not familiar with toxicity, irritation and allergy. Routine tests include: 1) acute oral toxicity test. The toxicity value of the experimental animal was expressed by 50% lethal dose (LD50) in mice. 2) Skin irritation test: rabbits were used as experimental animals to investigate the inflammation, erythema, edema and other reactions of rabbit skin to samples. 3) In the anaphylaxis test, rats were used as experimental animals, and the skin changes were observed after injection.
3. Technology and product development of using natural antibacterial finishing agent for textiles
3.1 Finishing technology of natural antibacterial agent
At present, the microencapsulation technology is widely used. This technology is to wrap the active ingredients of one or several plant drugs in the microcapsules, and then fix them in the fiber of the fabric to make it a health care fabric. Some of the capsules in the fibers burst when they contact with the skin, emitting fragrance, insect repellent and bactericide, etc., to play its health care role. For antibacterial and insecticidal microcapsule functional agents, the composition and thickness of the wall material can be changed to control the release rate of the microcapsule antibacterial agent and prolong the durability. When applied, microcapsules can be fixed on textiles through coating processing or application with adhesives. If the durability period is not long, the textile can also be soaked and rolled to break the microcapsule. After the antibacterial agent penetrates into the textile, it will play an antibacterial or insecticidal role immediately.
3 · 1 · 2 Ultrasonic technology When ultrasonic wave propagates, it makes particles in the elastic medium oscillate and transmits energy through the medium in the direction of ultrasonic wave propagation. In the liquid, molecules are compressed and thinned longitudinally, and holes or bubbles will be formed at the low pressure part. These holes will expand, and finally collapse or collapse violently to produce shock waves. This action is called cavitation. In the process of cavitation, extremely high pressure and temperature will be generated in a very small range of the solution, and local great agitation will be caused, which is an important reason for most of the physical and chemical effects of ultrasound.
In water medium, the maximum cavitation effect occurs at about 50 ℃, so the effect of using ultrasonic in dyeing and finishing is better than that in low-temperature processing. Plant pigments with medical and health care functions can be used for dyeing and finishing of textiles by ultrasonic technology. Among the plant dyes used in ancient textiles, many varieties have medical and health effects on the human body. There are a lot of records in Compendium of Materia Medica that plant dyes are truly environmental friendly dyes.
Example 1: Arnebia is a perennial herb of the Arnebiaceae, as stated in the Compendium of Materia Medica; "Arnebia is good at cooling blood and benefiting the large and small intestine, so it is suitable for those who want to have a bean rash before it comes out, and the blood heat is toxic, and the stool is closed and astringent.". In traditional Chinese medicine, Arnebia is often used to treat fever, fetal toxicity, constipation, hematuria and other heat toxicosis. Modern medicine has proved that Arnebia has a variety of pharmacological effects, such as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-tumor, etc. It is clinically used to treat acute and chronic hepatitis, tuberculosis, dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis and other diseases, and has a significant effect.
Shikonone is bright red, and acetylshikonone is purplish red. If shikonone dyed clothing fabric is used to make underwear for the elderly, it should be beneficial to the health care of the elderly skin. Similarly, there are mordant plant dyes with antibacterial effect such as madder and sapphire.
Example 2: Malay, a perennial herb of the family Acanthaceae, is mainly composed of indigoside, which is found in leaves and stems, and is produced by fermentation. The leaves of kale can also be used as Folium Isatidis for medicine, and the effect is similar to that of Polygonum Polygonum and Isatis indigotica. The medicinal function of Isatis indigotica is the same as that of Isatis indigotica. Chinese medicine believes that Folium Isatidis has the functions of clearing heat, detoxifying and cooling blood, and can be used to treat aphthous ulcer, cold, erysipelas, etc. Modern medicine has confirmed that Folium Isatidis has a strong killing effect on a variety of dysentery bacilli and meningococcus, and has a significant effect without producing drug resistance of bacteria. The medicinal value of Radix Isatidis and Folium Isatidis is similar.
The leaves, roots and stems of various bluegrass can be used as medicine. Indigo dye itself is also a traditional Chinese medicine. The Compendium of Materia Medica (Compendium of Materia Medica) day: "The lake is made of blue and lime. Its smell is slightly different from that of blue, and its effect of hemostasis, detoxification and insect killing seems to be better than that of blue". Malan is the indigo grass commonly used by the Miao, Yao, Dong and other minority nationalities in southwest China. The Yao also has a merchant named "Blue Indigo Yao" who specializes in planting Malan indigo for a living. These ethnic minorities live in the depths of the humid and hot mountains and forests all year round. A suit of indigo dyed clothes may be the best health care clothing for them to resist the disease and sore poison.
3 · 1 · 3 plasma technology The application of plasma technology in dyeing and finishing mainly includes surface modification and grafting polymerization of fibers. In recent years, some people have applied plasma treatment to the functional finishing of textiles. Its principle is to treat the fiber with plasma to activate the fiber, and then carry out the relevant finishing, or directly trigger the reaction between the fiber and the finishing agent for fixation. It is suggested that the above two methods can be used to test the application of botanical antibacterial finishing agent on textiles.
3 · 1 · 4 nano-technology nanomaterials are new ultra-fine solid materials. It is reported that some people have started to apply nanotechnology to plant medicine, so that the nano-sized ferric oxide coated with natural drugs can reach the part of patients needing treatment under the action of magnetic field. The research in this field is still in its infancy, and it is worth going further.
Development of 3 · 2 health care antibacterial textiles
1. The microcapsules made of cyprinol and mandarinol in Japan are used to treat pure cotton fabrics, such as bedding, fabrics, underwear, knitted shirts, baby bedding, sheets, towels, etc., so that these textiles have the functions of treating allergic dermatitis, inhibiting itching, and have good washability.
2. The Japanese Takase Dyer uses wormwood extract to make microcapsules, which are specially coated on cotton or nylon fabrics, so that bedding, pajamas and shirts can obtain antibacterial and deodorant functions, especially for people suffering from eczema, prickly heat and other dermatitis and skin allergies. The number of microcapsules is more than 2 million/m2, and can withstand domestic washing for no less than 50 times.
3. The extracts of aloe vera, licorice, houttuynia cordata and other extracts are used to moisturize the feather bedding fabric, quilt, sports pants, and pajamas, and have antibacterial and deodorant finishing, which is safe, low irritation, and good washability.
4. Develop textiles for the elderly and daily use. When people reach old age, their resistance will weaken and the incidence rate will increase. From the physiological and psychological requirements, they should not only wear comfortable clothes to facilitate activities, but also require the style and color to roughly keep up with the trend. Especially for the frail and sickly elderly, clothes should also have antibacterial, health care and multi-functional properties.
4 Conclusion
1. China is rich in plant resources, and the development and utilization of medicinal plant resources by the ancients has a long history; Chinese and secret prescriptions for the use of plant drugs have been tested for thousands of years. Digging and sorting out this precious heritage with modern science and technology can continue to benefit mankind. Therefore, using natural functional agent is a dyeing and finishing technology that optimizes and protects the environment.
2. With the rapid development of science and technology, the dyeing and finishing technology is facing many changes. Accelerating the application of high-tech achievements will open up a broader field for the dyeing and finishing of textiles. In particular, it requires pollution-free "green" processing and the production of "clean" textiles beneficial to health.
3. Extract effective ingredients from natural and ancient plants, transfer their functions to textiles such as fiber, clothing, bedding, etc., play the role of moisturizing skin, antibacterial and deodorant, which is conducive to people's physical and mental freshness and healthy longevity.
reference
Li Huiqin et al. Natural antibacterial finishing agent. Journal of Textile, 2002 (2): 50~54
Translated by He Zhongqin. The application of natural finishing agents in clothing. Foreign Silk, 2002 (2): 13-17
3 Translated by He Zhongqin. Trial production of antibacterial fabrics with plant pigments. Printing and Dyeing Translation, 1998 (2): 96~102
Qin Weiting et al. Progress in health care and comfort processing using natural functional agents. Shanghai Dyestuff, 1998 (2): 45-47
Translated by He Zhongqin. Water-free dyeing with supercritical carbon dioxide. Printing and Dyeing, 1999 (2): 5-8
6 Translated by He Zhongqin. Health-care and comfortable finishing with natural functional agents. Printing and Dyeing Translations, 1998 (2): 63~73
Yu Wangmiao et al. Nanomaterials and their applications in textile industry. Journal of Donghua University, 2001 (12): 121~127