Laboratories use many testing methods on customer products to check their withstanding capacity and strength against various viruses and bacterias. These are antibacterial and antiviral testing, and they have several testing methods according to the product. And these tests use different real-life bacterias and viruses for the testing process. The AATCC 100 test is one of the antibacterial testing methods for textiles and similar material kinds.
The primary work of these tests is to allow the bacterias and viruses to attack the customer products that help find the defending capacity of the products. Many testing methods are available for plastic, textile, sanitizers, and more products. The antibacterial and antiviral test methods will work the same, but the test processes will differ.
Different test methods and their uses
The basic tests like ISO 20743, ASTME 2149, and AATCC 100 are valid for testing products like textiles, medical drapes, face masks, boxing gloves, bedspreads, and even threads. The AATCC 100 test mainly tests textile products with an antibacterial finish that helps prevent microorganisms’ growth on the product’s layer. The ISO 22196 test method is for testing products like plastics, phone covers, film-based and paper-based packaging, and automotive filters.
As these tests, EN 1276 is the test method for testing surface cleaners that includes gel, hand sanitizers, automobile cleaning agents, textile cleaners, and more. Then the ISO 22196 is the best option for testing various coating products like durable wall coatings, paints, spray paints, handles, and similar materials. All these are the antibacterial testing methods that help to test various products. Like these, all the antiviral testing methods will have specific uses.
Antibacterial testing
This antibacterial testing method is one of the best methods to test various bacterial strains. The testing methods are of two types based on microorganism strains. The test with bacterial microorganism strains is antibacterial testing, and the process with viral strains is antiviral testing. The antibacterial tests have various test methods for different customer products. Each test will have unique steps for getting perfect results.
- EN 1276
- JIS Z 2801
- JIS L 1902
- ASTME2149
- AATCC-100
These antibacterial testing methods help improve the customer products’ capacity and strength. Each test will have a separate time duration for completing the test process. And the AATCC 100 antibacterial test will take about 3 to 4 days to complete the test process. Like this, all the other test processes will also have a specific time for getting the proper result. These are the features and abilities of antibacterial testing.
About AATCC 100 testing
This antibacterial test method is the best option for testing various textile and other textile related products. This test method uses specific methods with multiple techniques to get exact and perfect results for the customer products. Each step of this test process will have some conditions that help to improve the reaction between the customer products and the bacterial strains. All these test steps are essential to get accurate results, and any change in the testing step can change or destroy the entire outcome of the test process.
- Sample preparation
- Sterilization
- Inoculation
- Incubation
- Wash and shake
- processing
Sample preparation
The first step of this antibacterial testing is the sample preparation. The textile sheets or swatches are in a stack to absorb the required solutions to prepare the sample component for the test. This sample preparation process needs some open mouth jar with 250ml capacity for dipping the fabric and the customer product. The textile should be 4.8cm in diameter in a circular shape. It should have folded layers, so it absorbs more than usual. This process will make the fabric ready for the following procedure, and it should have enough inoculum volume.
Sterilization
The sterilization is the following process after the sample creation, which will make the fabric sample clean and clear because before conducting the test, the fabric should be pure. So if it’s not clean, it may affect the accuracy of the output by the dust and external microorganisms. In this process, sterilization can occur in any format. Still, the sample should be clean sterilized before moving to the following step.
Inoculation
The sample gets some bacterial strains like Klebsiella pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus in the inoculation process. This sample inoculation is the essential part of AATCC 100 testing. Each piece of the textile sample will have about 1 ml of components in this process. In ml, it has 10CFU of organisms. One part of the textile undergoes incubation from this process, and the other will not. These are the basic concepts of the inoculation process in this testing method.
Incubation
Incubation is the process in which the sample will be in isolation from other particles. That particular textile sample will be still without any physical and chemical disturbances. This incubation will take place for about 18hours to 24 hours straight at 37 degrees. This situation will allow the organisms to react or grow around the sample. Interacting during the isolation may cause a fault in the final result. Improper incubation can also cause defects or errors while calculating the final result.
Wash and shake
The wash and shake process is one of the essential parts of this test method. The jar with the fabric sample will get about 100 ml of neutralizing solution in this process. After adding the solution, the container needs a vigorous shake for 1 minute. This process of shaking will collect all the microorganisms for the final testing process. After all this work, it moves to the final calculation process to find the outcome of the process.
Processing
This process will provide the exact result for the AATCC 100 bacterial testing with the textile sample. This step transfers the solution to the agar plates. After that process, the rinsed container solution should have various diluted separations to test. The test sample with no incubation is for reference. The reference and treated counts are essential for the final result. These processes will help find the exact result for the product that undergoes all these test processes.
Uses of AATCC 100 testing
The primary use of this test method is to find the fighting capacity of the antibacterial finishes on the textile products. Many textile industries use this test method to test their textile fabrics and threads. This test result will provide a view about their products quality and ability to withstand external bacteria and other microorganisms attacks. AATCC 100 test helps improve the quality of the products by enhancing the antibacterial finishes on the textiles.
This test method will also help reduce the spread of dangerous microorganisms harmful to humans. If the products can fight against these microorganisms or have a protective shield against these particles will help the users to be safe from these kinds of dangers. Along with this, the antibacterial test method has various uses. All these are the uses of this AATCC 100 antibacterial testing method.
Laboratories
Many labs have these kinds of testing methods for various products. These tests apply from small household products to massive industrial materials. The sample treatment and the incubation process will differ according to the physical structure of the products. And most of the labs will have a testing facility with a maximum of 6 strains. They can also add additional bacterial and viral strains as per customer needs.
