Antibacterial and Temperature-regulating Silver fiber

Silver fiber can resist bacteria, regulate body temperature and humidity, or even control body odor.

There is one kind of textile which can protect the skin, remove body odor and prevent contaminant on medical textile. Is it one new invention? No. People have known its component for a long time: pure silver. Long ago, scientists have known that silver can kill bacteria. Metallic silver can resist microbe for clinic treatment with certain degree, while it has been used for consumables until nowadays.

At present, many medical product enterprises are carrying out research on how to use silver onto line of suture, bandage and cloths for doctors. In addition, many tycoons in chemical industry, such as DOW Chemical Company, DUPOND Company and Smith & Nephew Company, are taking measures to apply silver and other materials onto antibacterial textiles. Talent of one small size enterprise is showed in this battle,that is Noble Fiber Technologies which is situated at Clarks Summit of PENNSYLVANIA state.
As market promoters in Abbott Laboratories before and founder of Noble Fiber Technologies presently, William McNally has invited 6 scientists who have developed one kind of silver fiber five years later and it is registered as X-static brand. At present, this fiber has been licensed to over 100 manufacturers, including Marks & Spencer, adidas, Puma and Spyder; meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson company who has strong technical power also wants to cooperated with this small size enterprise to update bandages. William McNally says that our company carries out competition with tycoons by establishing coalition with large size companies.
Besides antibacterial effect, X-Static fiber can also resist static and regulate body temperature—actually these two properties are also characteristics of metallic silver.

William McNally says that sales of our products is better than expectation, sales of last year is 3times of sales the year before last year which is 12million dollars.

Silver has a long history as an antimicrobial agent. An awareness of its role in inhibiting micro-organisms has developed since the late 19th century. Under warm and humid/aqueous environment, metallic silver can release silver ions, antimicrobial activity depends on the intracellular accumulation of low concentrations of silver ions. Silver ions avidly bind to negatively charged components in proteins and nucleic acids, thereby effecting structural changes in bacterial cell walls, membranes and nucleic acids that affect viability. In particular silver ions are thought to interact with thiol groups, carboxylates, phosphates, hydroxyls, imidazoles, indoles and amines either singly or in combination, so that multiple deleterious events rather than specific lesions simultaneously interfere with microbial processes. Hence silver ions that bind to DNA block transcription, and those that bind to cell surface components interrupt bacterial respiration and ATP (adenosine triphosphate) synthesis. But silver can not easily penetrate cell membrane of mammals, which is safe to human body.

The hotter and wetter the environment, the more effective the antimicrobial efficacy or silver fiber becomes, therefore it is more suited for apparels, especially underwears or sports wears. In 2002, US army have decided to purchase 5.5million socks with X-Static fiber after comparing products of six manufacturers. In addition, 5 teams have put on uniforms containing this antibacterial fiber in Winter Olympics in 2002.

William McNally, as soul of Noble Fiber Technologies, has left Abbott Laboratories in 1996, then set up one enterprise to manufacture diagnosis electrode for eye disease; later they have developed X-Static fiber which has high electrically, thermally conductivity and antibacterial performance. William McNally has said that X-Static fiber has good clinic effect, but there are still problems to be settled, that is how to put this antibacterial fiber into textile without losing characteristics of traditional textiles.
It is proved by Pennsylvania State University,Cornell University and Taibei Yangming University that X-Static fiber can kill Escherichia coli and staphylococcal bacteria, as well as all Trichophytonmentagrophytes within 48hours. Therefore, Noble Fiber Technologies starts to enter into consumables market.

“At the beginning, I promote our products to sports company taking with clinic data,” William McNally says, “nobody believes us. Who should be blamed? There are too many advertisements in the market, no people will pay attention to those technical data.” He angrily points out that some companies use polyester fiber as materials and exaggerates that the textiles can discharge sweat which are nonsense!.

William McNally starts to mail samples to person in charge in some chemical factories, including Stan A. Mavis, who is CEO of Pearl Izumi which deals with bicycles and running products in Colorado. Once, Stan A. Mavis has put one T shirt made of X-Static fiber into his handbag and hurries up to catch up the scheduled flight to Osaka. It is unlucky that the airways has lost his luggage, then he has to wear that T shirt for 7 days in sequence. “It has no problem to resist bacteria,” Mavis says. Later, he bought one pair of X-Static socks for his 12 years old son, “That pair of socks can disinfect the shoes simultaneously.”

In the later half year, Pearl Izumi begins to sell X-Static fiber socks. At present, Mavis is manager of costume department of Brooks Sports which is set up in Washington state. Mavis will manufacture sports suit containing X-Static as soon as possible.
There are also other factors. “The explosion of SARS has stimulated the demand on antibacterial products in the market,” Roy Broughton, one professor of textile engineering department of Auburn University says, as textiles containing X-Static fiber have good performance to kill bacteria under polluted environment.

This fiber has wide market in the future. Antibacterial bandage will become hot cakes of trauma products in the 2 billion dollars market, it can also be made into bandages for patients with burns to lessen pains. At the same time, scientists are developing antibacterial wall paper and bathing curtains, as well as other paper products that can prevent anthracnose effectively.
Antibacterial agents that are used widely in the world now are Triclosan, which also exists in soap and deodorant. Roy Broughton points out that bacteria-killing effect and adhesion to fiber of Triclosan are lower than metallic silver. In addition, only a little silver can kill bacteria for a long term: X-Static fiber only accounts for 5% of the textile, but silver in the X-Static fiber is 99.9% pure which is higher than standard pure silver. Therefore application of this fiber is wide. They can be weaved onto outside or inside the textiles according to requirement of costume designers. William McNally points out that this material can stand for 250 times washing at least.

Moreover, Puma will produce jogging cloths containing X-Static fiber at beginning of this year. While Malcolm McDowell is director of garment department of Puma HQ in Germany, and he says that there are manufacturers to promote updated products every month, but only X-Static fiber “has attracted our attention as this kind of textile has many functions—regulate body temperature, humidity, resist bacteria or even control body odor.”

However, unit price of Puma X-Static T shirt is one times higher than common T shirt. “This high-tech is attractive,” Malcolm McDowell says, “But the market is limited. Few people want to buy one T shirt with 60 dollars, only those sports enthusiasts have found values of this tech and are willing to buy.”