JIS L 1902 test method is a Japanese Industrial Standard widely used for evaluating antimicrobial compounds throughout the world. It was initially created as a Japanese Industrial Standard for goods entering the Japanese market.

This technique is commonly employed to produce basic fabrics and textiles utilized in bedding, furniture, and clothing.

TEST FOR JIS L 1902

The microorganism of the test is grown in a liquid culture medium to ensure that it is ready for testing.

It is necessary to standardize the suspension of the test microorganism by diluting it in nourishing broth (this gives the microorganisms growth potential during the test). This technique is significant because it determines the number of nutrients contained in the nutritious broth. For the test to be legitimate, the microbe must be able to grow in the control fabric.

• A total of three times, control and test textiles are infected with microorganisms, guaranteeing that the vaccine comes into direct contact with materials only once.
• To assess initial microbial concentrations, elution at “time zero” is performed, followed by dilution and coating of control fabrics immediately after injection.
• It is permissible to allow additional inoculation control and test textiles to be left untreated in sealed containers at body temperature for a further 18 hours.
• The final microorganism concentrations are obtained after the incubation period. To determine the decrease in bacteria, the beginning concentrations and control fabric are taken into consideration.
• To verify that the neutralization/elution technique successfully neutralizes the antimicrobial agent present in the test textiles, controls are in place.
• Qualitative and quantitative components are included in the test choices.

Qualitative:

This is the official JSA JIS L 1902 test method for Antimicrobial Activity is an antimicrobial effectiveness test for textile goods developed by the Japan Standards Association. Here, in this version of the JIS L 1902, the antibacterial activity is determined qualitatively by the amount of growth on the fabric.

Quantitative:

The JIS L 1902 Quantitative Antimicrobial Test is a standard JIS L 1902 for textiles used to determine antimicrobial resistance. The information included in this version of the JIS L 1902 is quantitative. For a bacterial determination by plating, the quantitative method requires an extra incubation period of at least one hour.

No matter what type of antibacterial agent is used (organic or inorganic, natural or artificial) or what method of application is used, this Standard applies to all textile products, including cloth, wadding, thread, and material used in the manufacture of clothing, bedclothes, home furnishings, and miscellaneous goods (built-in, after-treatment or grafting).

Three duplicates of each sample were performed at each test condition.

They define test procedures for determining the antibacterial activity of all antibacterial textile materials, including nonwovens, by international standards. JIS L1902 has three techniques in addition to the Halo Method, which is described below.

Bacterial Testing on Fabrics Absorption Technique — An assessment method in which the test bacterium is injected directly onto the samples. To calculate the antibacterial activity value, it is necessary to know the quantity of bacteria present immediately after inoculation. The standard response time is 18 to 24 hours.

Transfer Method – For the first 5 minutes, samples are kept in touch with the bacteria, after which they are left to incubate for 18–24 hours. The number of bacteria presents immediately after injection and contact is counted, and this quantity is used to calculate the antibacterial activity of the solution.

Printing Method– It is known as the Halo Technique (JIS L1902) because it is a qualitative method that assesses the antibacterial activity by determining whether or not there are any halos, or a transparent region of growth, surrounding the sample. A sample is put on the surface of infected agar plates to allow for proper incubation. Afterward, the leaves are incubated for 24 to 48 hours and checked for the presence of “holos.”

The Purpose and Objectives

The antibacterial activity of several fabrics against a range of microorganisms at various contact periods should be evaluated and compared under controlled conditions in a laboratory setting.

Testing

Test MethodJIS L1902 of the Japanese International Standards Association will be used for this testing, with a few modifications to meet the project’s needs. This test technique is intended to evaluate the antibacterial characteristics of porous items that have been treated with a biocidal substance that is effective against bacteria. At both 0 hours and 24 hours of contact time, the sample textiles are compared to a control fabric to determine their performance. The suspension of a live bacteria in a slightly nutritive solution is administered to each sample at several locations. For 24 hours, sample textiles are incubated at 37 degrees Celsius. Finally, the remaining live bacteria from each piece are recovered with neutralizing broth and dilution-plated on a nutritive medium to get a quantitative count of colony-forming units per gram of sample fabric and compare it to the control.

• A microbial strain from each of the following will be tested in each test:
• The bacterium Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) is considered to be the industry standard.
• The bacterium Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (ATCC 33591)
• Bacteria strain Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538).
• Bacteria are known as Klebsiella pneumonia (ATCC 4352).
• Each microbial strain will be subjected to a total of 24 data points, including the following:
• a total of two materials (one test textile and one provided/in-house negative control).
• Please supply at least 10 grams of each item at each time point, unless otherwise specified.
• There are two time-points (0 and 24 hours)

The strengths of the JIS L 1902 testing

• Compared to another antimicrobial fabric technique known as AATCC 100, the parameters of this approach are more precisely defined.
• It is possible to test for both bacteriostatic and bactericidal characteristics on a particular antimicrobial fabric using this technique.
• It is necessary to normalize the microbial concentrations and supply bacteria with nutrients throughout the incubation time. This gives them enough chance to increase if the test textiles are not adequately antimicrobial.
• The technique calls for triplicate experimentation, which allows researchers to assess the precision of individual tests. While the overall accuracy of the investigation is simultaneously increasing.
• The technique provides a “pass/fail” criteria for the estimated levels of antimicrobial activity seen in test samples, reducing the discretion.

The implication of the JIS L 1902 test

• There is a clear connection between product performance measured by the JIS L 1902 technique and actual odor inhibition.
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) usually does not recognize the technique for so-called “health claims.”
• It may be challenging to evaluate hydrophobic textiles using this technique because of the nature of the cloth.

Conclusion

In Japan, an ‘antibacterial activity value’ of 2.0 is required for what may be referred to as an “antibacterial fabric.” Because of its high 5.7 strength, the tested fabric from Aizome BeddingTM is almost three times as effective as this requirement is.

When it comes to skin and soft tissue infections in people, the bacterium tested with is Staphylococcus aureus, which is responsible for more than 10 million outpatient visits and almost 500,000 hospital admissions numbers in the United States each year.

This bacterium is well-known for its ability to survive and thrive in bed linens for extended periods. A comparison is made between the findings of the test. Those of a standard fabric, which demonstrate the growth of bacteria throughout the length of the testing time.

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