Abstract


N-N Diethyl Benz amide Mosquito repellent finish was appliedon cotton fabrics using by simple padding method. The Mosquito repellent N-NDiethyl Benz amide treated cotton fabrics wereevaluated by Cage Test. The 12% N-N Diethyl Benz amide applied fabric gave 100% mosquito repellency.


Introduction


In Today's era of modernization of the textile industry, weare going through advancements of technology in every field of this industry.The world where this would lead us would be astonishingly hi-tech andmaterialistic. To ensure our security and safety from the future hazards, weneed to equally development the technology for our protection. Protectivetextiles are among one such smart application of smart technology in textiles.Protective textiles refer to those textile products which have a functionalityof giving protection from something in some or the other sense. With regard totextiles, the protective textile field of the smart textiles has to fulfillthis requirement. A Mosquito repellent textile is one such textile product. Mosquitoes classify as oneof the deadliest pests known to man. Inthe tropical countries mosquito menace is one of the greatest problems faced bythe people in their every day lives. Mosquitoes cause more human suffering thanany other organism. Worldwide, however, mosquitoes transmit disease to morethan 700, 000, 000 people annually and will be responsible for thedeaths of 1 of every 17 people currently alive. Mosquitoes are attracted to carbondioxide as well as the warmth and humidity people give off-so subtledifferences in body chemistry between people make some people more prone togetting bitten by mosquitoes than others.. Mosquitoes have complex methods of detectinghosts and different types of mosquitoes react to different stimuli. Mostmosquitoes are active at dawn and dusk, but there are also mosquitoes that seekhosts during the day. You can avoid being bitten by making sure you aren'tattracting mosquitoes, using attractants to lure mosquitoes elsewhere, using arepellent, and avoiding actions that diminish the effectiveness of therepellent.


Mosquito repellent textiles is one of the revolutionary waysto advance the textile field by providing the much-needed features of drivingaway mosquitoes, especially in the tropical areas. It protects the human beingsfrom the bite of mosquitoes and thereby promising safety from the mosquito-bornediseases, such as malaria, dengue fever (DF), Nile fever,dengue hemorrhagicfever (DHF), chicken gunia and filariasis, are serious public health problemsin tropical regions, especially in Africa and Asia. These diseases aretransmitted to human beings through mosquito bite only. Since there is noeffective vaccine available for the control of these diseases, prevention of mosquitobites is one of the main strategies to control or minimize incidence of thesediseases.


There are several mosquito repellents are available intoday's market, for instance, an estimated 110 million people safely use DEETworldwide each year. Developed by the US Department of Agriculture, Di-EthylMeta Toluamide (DEET) was first used by the military. It is applied as a skinlotion and its effectiveness last for four to five hours. DEET cannot beapplied on fabrics, as it does not withstand even mild laundering.
People initially applied mosquito repellents on their skin directly as lotion.It is effective for a few hours and most of them can be harmful to human beingsas they are coming in direct contact with the skin. To impart this character afinish of the mosquito repelling agent is given to the textile material. Due tothese reasons, people now prefer mosquito repellent textiles, as they mayremain effective for up to a week when applied to clothing. A repellent appliedto clothing normally retains its effect longer than on skin .Generally, cottonand nylon fabrics are treated with mosquito repellents since cotton is widelyused as bed-sheets where nylon as mosquito nets.


In this research, subjective evaluation of mosquitorepellent finish applied cotton fabrics are analyzed .The result of the repellentactivity are based on the cage test for evaluating the effectiveness of mosquitorepellent finish.

 

Experimental


Materials And Methods


Material


Fabric


Cotton fabric with the following specification was scoured and bleached prior to the application of finish.


Fabric Count : 80 x 80

Yarn Count : 60s Combed X 60s Combed

GSM : 180

Type of weave : Plain


Chemicals Used


N-N Diethyl Benz amide


Mosquitorepellent Finish


(I) Pretreatment


The material is treated with soap at 60 0C for 30 minutes to remove the dirt on the untreated fabric with water. The soap solution is added into water in the proportion of 3: 1.Then the material is given hot wash and cold wash. The M:L is 1:20.


(ii) Finish Application


The pretreated sample is treated with N-N Diethyl Benz amide at 7% and 14% concentration at room temperature for 30 minutes with water. The liquor ratio is 1:7. The material is hydro dried for 5 minutes. The PH is maintained at 6.Finally the fabric samples were tested for mosquito repellency as per the standard test methods.


Standard Test Methods


Cage Test


Cage tests are the quick and cost-effective way to determine the mosquito-repelling qualities of treated textiles. The tests follow the acknowledged protocol for cage tests of repellents. For such a test, volunteers cover a defined area of their forearms with the textiles and then present it to hungry mosquitoes in cage.


Both the untreated cotton fabric and N-N Diethyl Benz amide treated fabric is placed inside the mosquito cage containing mosquitos for 2 hours. The effectiveness of the finish is evaluated by depending upon the number of mosquitos on the samples and the bites.





 

Result And Disscussion

 

Mosquito Repellent Finish

 

The N-N Diethyl Benz amide treated fabric gave 100% effectiveness on cotton fabric. The treated fabric 7% and 14% N-N Diethyl Benz amide showed better mosquito repellency. There is a concentration increases the repellent acitivity also increases. The findings of the study reveal that the 14 % concentration of Mosquito repellent treated fabrics found to be very effective and can be used for hygenic and health care application.

 

Conclusion

 

Apart from the industrial use, Mosquito repellent finish on textiles has become essential in our day today life to live in free diseases and hygienic atmosphere. The finish has excellent potential in various textile uses baby care products and . Night wears. Even though many products have come, but still there is very good scope for the textile researchers in this field.

 

References

 

  1. www.aatcc.org
  2. www.americanmosquitocontrolorganisation.html
  3. www.biogents.com
  4. www.microbes.com
  5. Asian textile journal 'March 2004' P-.45, 47
  6. Barxoclamo (July 2004) 'Indian textile journal'
  7. Butter Worth, (1964), Review Of Textile Process, Butter Worth And Co. Publishers Ltd, Bangalore, P-330
  8. Taubes G. A mosquito bites back. New York Times Magazine. August 24, 997:40-6. 
  9. Shell ER. Resurgence of a deadly disease. Atlantic Monthly. August 1997:45-60. Malaria. Fact sheet. No. 94. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1999. (Accessed May 3, 2002,

 

The author is Senior Lecturer in Department of Fashion Technology at Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore