Abstract: In view of the disadvantages of nano-silver antibacterial finishing on cotton fabric at present such as the low utilization rate of silver ion and poor washing durability, a suitable finishing process which included methacrylamide grafting onto cotton fabric, silver nitrate dipping and steam finishing was used to prepare nano-silver antibacterial finishing fabric. The influence of finishing factors on the utilization rate of silver ion, silver content on fabric and antibacterial property of finished fabric was studied, and the washing resistance of the finished fabric was investigated. The results showed that the process of cotton grafted with methacrylamide could raise the utilization rate of silver nitrate and silver content on fabric, and the utilization rate of silver nitrate and silver content on fabric both reached maximum when the grafting yield was 15.05%; when the concentration of silver nitrate was 0.1mM, the silver content on fabric was 102.9 mg/kg, the bacterial inhibition rate for bacillus coli and staphylococcus aureus both reached 99.9%, after washing 50 times, the retention rate of silver on fabric is 85.19%,the bacterial inhibition rate for these two kinds of bacteria is over 97%. The study indicates finishing process which included methacrylamide grafting onto cotton fabric, silver nitrate dipping and steam finishing had the following advantage, the utilization rate of silver ion was high, and the finished fabric have an excellent antibacterial property and washing resistance.

Key words: cotton fabric, nano-silver, graft finishing, antibacterial