Survival and growth of microorganisms in the hospital environment must be limited to prevent infection by cross-contamination. Advances in materials/coatings engineering have made antimicrobial materials/coatings (e.g. porous & non-porous surfaces, textiles) an attractive investment for infection control professionals. Due to presence of moisture being a critical factor for some antimicrobial materials, a knowledge of the time taken for a material to return from ‘wet’ to ‘dry’ is important.
This information may allow for a more realistic method for testing the efficacy of antimicrobial textiles in an environment closer to reality.
This project aims to engineer a process/tool by which the wet or dry status of a textile can be determined by electrostatic methods and automatic detection.
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