The leading silver ion technology for obtaining hygiene, protection and freshness
SILVERPLUS® transfers the element silver into a silver compound which has been applied to microstructured substrates by means of highly innovative coating procedures.
One gram of microstructured SILVERPLUS® active ingredient has a superficial area of ca. 600,000 cm². The advantage of the enlargement of the superficial area is that the consumption of resources can be minimised by the factor 100 compared with metallic silver. At the same time, the effects are maximised, similar to the mode of action of platinum in automotive exhaust catalysts. Due to this highly innovative procedure a virtually infinite deposit is created from which highly effective positive silver ions are set free in small (some ppm) exactly dosed quantities whenever needed, i.e. in the presence of moisture.
Due to the triple effect mechanism of SILVERPLUS® many odour-causing bacteria cannot adapt to the effect of silver ions. The antimicrobial effect of the natural element silver is exclusively based on free silver ions. Due to a triple effect mechanism, silver ions with a positive charge have bacteriostatic effects.SILVERPLUS® is, therefore, capable of contributing to stopping odour-causing bacteria to thus prevent infections in clinics and hospitals, which are e. g. caused by the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus strain (MRSA), from being transmitted*. (*This is not approved by the EPA and hence not valid for the USA.)
ECOLOGICAL TEXTILE CARE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Over their entire life span, significant amounts of energy for washing, tumble drying, ironing or mangling textiles are necessary in the professional or household textile care. The consumption of water and detergent is considerable and exceeds many times the quantities necessary for the textiles‘ production. With an increasing world population we will have reached our limits soon. Integral system optimisation is thus imperative.
SILVERPLUS® ecology: fresh textiles even at low washing temperatures – less energy consumption and better CO2 balance
EFFICIENCY: EXTRAORDINARY RESISTANCE TO WASHING AND DRY CLEANING
Due to its micropigmentation SILVERPLUS® anchors to textiles by itself in a resistant to washing and dry cleaning manner without the addition of chemical binder or adhesive systems.
SILVERPLUS® for example deposits in the yarn interstices and is permanently bonded to the substrate due to strong attractive forces. This procedure is comparable with the deposit of soot particles, which, even after repeated wash cycles, cannot be removed by standard detergents.
BE ON GOOD TERMS WITH NATURE
The use of SILVERPLUS® has been shown to have no negative effects on the environment. The quantities of silver which SILVERPLUS® returns to nature (ppb range) correspond to the average natural silver content of natural soil or rocks.
SILVERPLUS® SAFEGUARDS RESOURCES
SILVERPLUS® does not waste important resources, i.e. the antimicrobial active free silver ions; but only uses them if necessary. Free silver ions dispose of extensive antimicrobial effects. Thus even small SILVERPLUS® quantities are sufficient to permanently control odour-causing bacteria in textiles.
OEKO-TEX® LISTING: With the OEKO-TEX®-listed SILVERPLUS® products ®RUCO-BAC AGP and ®RUCO-BAC AGL the RUDOLF GROUP ensures that antimicrobially finished textiles will be OEKO-TEX-labelled if they fulfill all other OEKO-TEX® criteria.
BLUESIGN® APPROVAL: With RUCO®-BAC AGP the SILVERPLUS® technology fulfills the stringent ecological and toxicological bluesign® criteria and is, thus, bluesign® approved.
EPA-regestration: The US-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for protecting the environment and human health. EPA-registered antibacterial ingredients must be used on textiles or other substrates as well as on those textiles or substrates that are intended for the US importation. Any violations will be rigorously punished worldwide by EPA. The SILVERPLUS® products ®RUCO-BAC AGP and ®RUCO-BAC AGL assure you to use the right freshness technology for the importation of these textiles into the US market.
Hohenstein field study: In a field study carried out by Hohenstein researchers, who have been assisted by an external dermatologist, it has been found that the natural skin flora is not affected even if the silver-containing antibacterial clothing is permanently worn. The clothing only showed the desired fresh effect, thus controlling bacteria that got into the textile and avoiding unpleasant degradation products caused by perspiration. In other words: Safe fresh effects without negative accessory symptoms! In the meantime, the fresh effect of silver is widely offered to end-users, e.g. in the form of deodorants, to avoid unpleasant odours and to secure freshness.
Laus study: The antibacterial active ingredient (AgCl) of SILVERPLUS® products reacts with the constantly present sulphide (hydrogen sulphide = odour of rotten eggs) to absolutely insoluble silver sulphide (Ag2S) and is thus no longer bio- available. The activity of the important bacteria of biological purging during sewage treatment is not inhibited. This has been confirmed by studies conducted by the independent test institute LAUS-GmbH, Kirrweiler/Germany.
Cost reduction by universal application, especially in the exhaust method
Usually, the costs of textile finishing are not caused by the finishing product, but rather by additional processing costs due to its application. Even though SILVERPLUS® is a high-priced finishing agent, costs will not sky-rocket.
SILVERPLUS® products are extremely suitable for the exhaust method, because they do not require a costly binder system. Thus, SILVERPLUS® products can be easily applied by the exhaust method in initial textile finishing or in post-finishing, such as laundries. This approach makes the textile finishing market extremely flexible and leaves the decision on hygienic and fresh finishing open until making up the final article.
SILVERPLUS® can be incorporated in any step of intial textile finishing. An energy-intensive separate run, as with many conventional antimicrobial systems, is not necessary. Thus, a sales-promotional, functional additional value is created. SILVERPLUS® is profitable - also from an economic point of view, especially with ®RUCO-BAC AGL.
Quality and performance: No additional. quality diminishing binder system necessary
The use of a binder/adhesive system for heat-setting SILVERPLUS® in a resistance to washing and dry cleaning manner is not necessary. Binder/adhesive systems, as offered for other silver-based product systems, have the following disadvantages:
Most binder systems can only be applied by padding. The silver finish remains inapplicable to textiles that can only be finished by the exhaust method.
Binder systems have to be additionally cured at higher temperatures. A change of the white shade or colour has to be taken into account.
Binder systems require a separate run under curing conditions, which increases the production costs.
For obtaining fresh effects ordinary drying is sufficient to embed SILVERPLUS® in the fibre interstices. Depending on the combination with other finishing variants or process steps in dyeing or finishing, curing/setting temperatures can be used without effect losses.