How to judge the quality of antibacterial yarn?
The quality of antibacterial yarn needs to be judged in multiple dimensions, including physical properties, antimicrobial effect, safety and environmental protection, and practical application. Priority should be given to products that have passed third-party testing, meet international/domestic standards and have excellent washing resistance, in order to meet the high standards of medical and home textile scenarios.
I. Basic Physical Property Test
Check whether there are impurities, oil, rust stains, thick knots or foreign color fibers on the surface of the yarn, these defects may affect the uniformity of the antibacterial effect.
Observe whether the yarn is uniform, if “fat and thin” may indicate that the production process is not stable.
Tensile strength test: manually or instrumentally stretch the yarn to assess its toughness and breaking strength, poor quality yarns are prone to breakage.
Abrasion resistance: simulate the actual use scenarios and test the yarn's ability to maintain its form after friction.
II. Antimicrobial Performance Test
Core indicators: Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive bacteria) bacterial inhibition rate needs to be ≥80%, E. coli (Gram-negative bacteria) ≥70%, Candida albicans ≥70%.
High-grade requirements: some high-end products (e.g. AAA grade) need to achieve an antibacterial rate of 99% or more, and withstand 50 washings after the performance degradation of ≤ 10%.
Qualitative testing:
Agar dish diffusion method: observe the size of the antibacterial circle around the sample to quickly determine the antibacterial activity.
Halo method: Judge the range of bacterial inhibition through the bacterial liquid after scratching line contact.
Quantitative detection:
Oscillation method (GB/T 20944.3-2008): applicable to non-lysed antimicrobial yarn, calculate the colony reduction rate.
Absorption method: assess the sustained release effect of dissolved antimicrobial agent.
Test the durability of antimicrobial performance through standard washing procedures (e.g. 50 times of water washing), qualified products should maintain the rate of bacterial inhibition without significant decline.
III. Safety and Environmental Protection Evaluation
Test the irritation, sensitization and acute toxicity of the antimicrobial agent on the skin to ensure compliance with GB 15979 and other standards.
Verify the effect of antimicrobial yarn on the normal flora of the skin to avoid destroying the micro-ecological balance of the human body.
Ensure that the antimicrobial agent meets the requirements of REACH regulations and avoid containing heavy metals (such as mercury, cadmium) and other harmful substances.
IV. Third party testing and certification
Choose a CMA/CNAS certified testing organization (e.g., CSTC Testing) to obtain test reports containing indicators such as antimicrobial rate and wash resistance.
Refer to international standards (e.g. ISO 20743, AATCC 100) for cross-validation to ensure data reliability.
V. Verification of actual application effect
Trial in high bacterial environment (e.g. medical, sports scene) to observe the actual effect of odor suppression, cross-infection control and so on.
Evaluate the performance stability after long-term use through user feedback.
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