REVIEW PAPER Plasma Sterilization: New Epoch in Medical Textiles P. Senthilkumar • N. Arun • C. Vigneswaran Received: 14 October 2014 / Accepted: 30 December 2014 / Published online: 22 January 2015 Ó The Institution of Engineers (India) 2015 Abstract Clothing is perceived to be second skin to the human body since it is in close contact with the human skin most of the times. In hospitals, use of textile materials in different forms and sterilization of these materials is an essential requirement for preventing spread of germs. The need for appropriate disinfection and sterilization tech- niques is of paramount importance. There has been a continuous demand for novel sterilization techniques appropriate for use on various textile materials as the existing sterilization techniques suffer from various tech- nical and economical drawbacks. Plasma sterilization is the alternative method, which is friendlier and more effective on the wide spectrum of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms. Basically, the main inactivation factors for cells exposed to plasma are heat, UV radiation and various reactive species. Plasma exposure can kill micro- organisms on a surface in addition to removing adsorbed monolayer of surface contaminants. Advantages of plasma surface treatment are removal of contaminants from the surface, change in the surface energy and sterilization of the surface. Plasma sterilization aims to kill and/or remove all micro-organisms which may cause infection of humans or animals, or which can cause spoilage of foods or other goods. This review paper emphasizes necessity for sterili- zation, essentials of sterilization, mechanism of plasma sterilization and the parameters influencing it. Keywords Plasma sterilization Á Atmospheric pressure plasma Á Dielectric barrier discharge Á Low temperature plasma Á Corona discharge Introduction Clothing is perceived to be second skin to the human body since it is in close contact with the human skin most of the times. The textile products right from common clothing garments to high sensitive healthcare hospital linen mate- rials was subjected to various processing starting from the raw material to finished product [1, 2]. The need for appropriate disinfection and sterilization techniques is of paramount importance [3]. There has been a continuous demand for novel sterilization techniques appropriate for use on various textile materials as the existing sterilization techniques suffer from various technical and economical drawbacks. This review paper emphasizes necessity for sterilization, essentials of sterilization, mechanism of plasma sterilization and the parameters influencing it. Need and Necessity for Sterilization/Decontamination Perhaps the most critical concern for healthcare linen facilities is preventing the spread of drug resistant strains of highly infectious bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus or ‘‘Staph’’ and fecal-borne spores and cysts including Clostridium difficile, or ‘‘C. diff’’ spores, Giardia cysts and P. Senthilkumar (&) Department of Textile Technology, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore 641004, India e-mail: senthiltxt11@gmail.com N. Arun United Raw Materials Pte. Limited, Singapore 408868, Singapore C. Vigneswaran Department of Fashion Technology, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore 641004, India 123 J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. E (January–June 2015) 96(1):75–84 DOI 10.1007/s40034-014-0056-7