Volume 14, Issue 4

Functional textiles are one of the most important fields in textile industry and textile materials science. They include breathable, heat and cold-resistant materials, ultra-strong fabrics (e.g. as reinforcement for composites), new flameretardant fabrics (e.g. intumescent materials), optimisation of textile fabrics for acoustic properties, etc. Functional textiles became more and more important materials for various applications and interest in them grew year by year; and more and more conferences are focused on functional textiles, as well as the events which are not only textile conferences but encompass various fields of Material Science. This paper presents a short overview about the European Materials Research Society 2014 Fall meeting conference Symposium M “Functional textiles - from research and development to innovations and industrial uptake” and the projects which participated as symposium co-organisers: the European Coordination Action 2BFUNTEX funded by the EC 7th Framework Programme NMP, the COST Action MP1105 on “Sustainable flame retardancy for textiles and related materials based on nanoparticles substituting conventional chemicals (FLARETEX)” and the COST Action MP1206 on “Electrospun Nano-fibres for bio inspired composite materials and innovative industrial applications”.

Investigations of the influence of the knit structure, i.e. the loop length and the number of yarns in a loop, on flammability and comfortability are presented in this paper. The investigations were carried out using single jersey knits from Delta TA 18 tex × 2 yarns with five variants of a loop length. Single yarn as well as folded yarn from two single yarns was used in the investigations. Comparison of the results of single-layer knits flammability and air permeability with those of multilayer packet was made. The results obtained show that an increase in the loop length of the knit increases their permeability to air and decreases the burning time as well as increase in the number of layers decreases the air permeability and increases the burning time. Moreover, the similar burning time with significantly different permeability to air can be achieved changing the basic knitting parameters, i.e. the loop length and/or the yarn linear density.

Electrospinning is remarkably a simple and versatile method for producing nanofibres. The diameter of nanofibres can vary from 10 nm to >1000 nm. In electrospinning, most of the attention is focused on producing fibres with a uniform diameter. It is very important to understand how the diameter and its distribution vary with the materials used and the processing parameters. An analysis of literature sources has shown that the distribution curves of the diameters obtained are very complex and do not resemble normal distributions, while they do more closely correspond to those of compound distributions. The goal of this article is to analyse the distributions of the nanofibre diameters and to propose a new method for the evaluation process of nanofibres and the quality of a nanofibre web. The uniformity of structure and the quality of nanofibres web must be described by average values. The peaks of modal values and the percentage quantity of them must be used for evaluation of a web structure.

Incorporation of cyclodextrins (CDs) into electrospun nanofibrous materials can be considered as potential candidates for functional medical textile applications. Naproxen (NAP) is a type of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug commonly administered for the treatment of pain, inflammation and fever. Drug-inclusion complex formation with CDs is an approach to improve the aqueous solubility via molecular encapsulation of the drug within the cavity of the more soluble CD molecule. In this study, NAP or different NAP-CD inclusion complexes loaded nanofibres were successfully produced through electrospinning and characterised. The inclusion complex loaded mats exhibited significantly faster release profiles than NAP-loaded thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) mats. Overall, NAP-inclusion complex loaded TPU electrospun nanofibres could be used as drug delivery systems for acute pain treatments since they possess a highly porous structure that can release the drug immediately.

The primary cause of skin cancer is believed to be a long exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UV-R) crossed with the amount of skin pigmentation in the population. It is believed that in childhood and adolescence 80% of UV-R gets absorbed, whilst in the remaining 20% gets absorbed later in the lifetime. This suggests that proper and early photoprotection may reduce the risk of subsequent occurrence of skin cancer. Textile and clothing are the most suitable interface between environment and human body. It can show UV protection, but in most cases it does not provide full sun screening properties. UV protection ability highly depends on large number of factors such as type of fibre, fabric surface and construction, type and concentration of dyestuff, fluorescent whitening agent (FWA), UV-B protective agents, as well as nanoparticles, if applied. Based on electronically excited state by energy of UV-R (usually 340-370 nm), the molecules of FWAs show the phenomenon of fluorescence giving to white textiles high whiteness of outstanding brightness by reemitting the energy at the blue region (typically 420-470 nm) of the spectrum. By absorbing UV-A radiation, optical brightened fabrics transform this radiation into blue fluorescence, which leads to better UV protection. Natural zeolites are rock-forming, microporous silicate minerals. Applied as nanoparticles to textile surface, it scatters the UV-R resulting in lower UV-A and UV-B transmission. If applied with other UV absorbing agents, e.g. FWAs, synergistic effect occurs. Silicones are inert, synthetic compounds with a variety of forms and uses. It provides a unique soft touch, is very resistant to washing and improves the property of fabric to protect against UV radiation. Therefore, the UV protective properties of cotton fabric achieved by light conversion and scattering was researched in this paper. For that purpose, the stilbene-derived FWAs were applied on cotton fabric in wide concentration range without/with the addition of natural zeolite or silicone- polydimethylsiloxane. UV protection was determined in vitro through ultraviolet protection factor. Additionally, the influence to fabric whiteness and hand was researched

One of the biggest disadvantages of rigid polyurethane (PU) foams is its low thermal resistance, high flammability and high smoke production. Greatest advantage of this thermal insulation material is its low thermal conductivity (λ), which at 18-28 mW/(m•K) is superior to other materials. To lower the flammability of PU foams, different flame retardants (FR) are used. Usually, industrially viable are halogenated liquid FRs but recent trends in EU regulations show that they are not desirable any more. Main concern is toxicity of smoke and health hazard form volatiles in PU foam materials. Development of intumescent passive fire protection for foam materials would answer problems with flammability without using halogenated FRs. It is possible to add expandable graphite (EG) into PU foam structure but this increases the thermal conductivity greatly. Thus, the main advantage of PU foam is lost. To decrease the flammability of PU foams, three different contents 3%; 9% and 15% of EG were added to PU foam formulation. Sample with 15% of EG increased λ of PU foam from 24.0 to 30.0 mW/(m•K). This paper describes the study where PU foam developed from renewable resources is protected with thermally expandable intumescent mat from Technical Fibre Products Ltd. (TFP) as an alternative to EG added into PU material. TFP produces range of mineral fibre mats with EG that produce passive fire barrier. Two type mats were used to develop sandwich-type PU foams. Also, synergy effect of non-halogenated FR, dimethyl propyl phosphate and EG was studied. Flammability of developed materials was assessed using Cone Calorimeter equipment. Density, thermal conductivity, compression strength and modulus of elasticity were tested for developed PU foams. PU foam morphology was assessed from scanning electron microscopy images.

With the increases of the expected properties of textile products, better and advanced new designs are being created. Textiles used in vehicles are increasing, and the current performance of the expectations bar is determined by automobile manufacturers. While meeting the expectations of users in the vehicle mechanically, but also disturbing the user during operation of the mechanical properties of this ratio should be minimized. This study was intended to minimize sound transmission of nonwoven textile components, which are used in cars as silencer parts. For that purpose, four different models were developed in this study. First model consists of three designs for baggage carpets. Second model has six designs for floor coverings. Third model comprises two designs inner dash felt and finally fourth model includes two designs of hood liners. The acoustical absorption coefficients and transmission loss of these carpets were tested and evaluated in the frequency range of 16-6300 Hz. The measurements demonstrated that nonwoven layer is a very significant and effective part of a carpet due to its contribution in the sound isolation. With this study, it has been determined which layer has better performance on sound absorption and transmission loss among different carpet types. A combination of heavy layer and nonwoven layer carpets is found to be benefit for noise and sound insulation.

The life quality improvement issue is a problem of national and international interest. This acquires total different values when it is to refer to a series of disadvantaged categories, that is the persons with locomotor disabilities. It is an inevitable social responsibility to create equal opportunities for disabled people, to prevent any intentional or unintentional discrimination that they face and apply positive discrimination if necessary to improve their living standards and to let them have an equal share from social development as productive individuals of society. A disability is any kind of restriction or inability to accomplish a certain activity, which belongs to the interval considered as “normal” for a human being. Disabilities are characterized by deficiencies or excesses in the activity or behaviour that is normally expected from a person; they can be temporary or permanent, reversible or irreversible, progressive or regressive. The physical disabilities that require the use of wheelchairs imply the manufacturing of special clothing products that meet certain needs at a functional and/or therapeutic level. The study presents the main aspects involved in designing and developing textile products for this category of users. Therefore, the apparel that is specially designed for persons with disabilities has to: allow more freedom and independence when is being worn, correspond to the aesthetic point of view, offer psychological benefits and help to socially integrate the individual who wears it. In addition, clothes should not hinder the individual’s mobility and must allow the use of the chest and of the superior limbs to the maximum, they must be durable, have a low level of electrostatic charge, be absorbent and comfortable, present the so-called “rehabilitation functions”, and last but not least, be beneficial for the wearer both from a physical and psychological point of view.

The concept of ‘environmental awareness’ has recently had a major impact on the textile industry and on the fashion world as well. In this context, the use of natural fibres and the development of natural dyeing processes gradually became important goals of the textile industry. Of all natural textile fibres, hemp is considered to be one of the strongest and most durable. A wide range of natural extracts have been used for natural textile coloration and dyeing. Dyes deriving from natural sources have emerged as an important alternative to synthetic dyes. Ecofriendly, nontoxic, sustainable and renewable natural dyes and pigments have been used for colouring the food substrate, leather, wood, natural fibres and fabrics from the dawn of human history. The purpose of the research is to obtain ecologically coloured fabrics for textiles by using a method of dyeing that relies on natural ingredients extracted from red beet, onion leaves and black tea. The experiments are conducted on three different types of hemp fabrics. This paper presents the results of the studies regarding the dyeing process of hemp fabrics with natural extracts, the colours of the dyed samples inspected with reflectance spectra and the CIE L*a*b* colour space measurements.

Thermal-insulation properties of textile materials play a significant role in material engineering of protective clothing. Thermal-insulation properties are very important from the point of view of thermal comfort of the clothing user as well as the protective efficiency against low or high temperature. Thermal protective clothing usually is a multilayer construction. Its thermal insulation is a resultant of a number of layers and their order, as well as the thermalinsulation properties of a single textile material creating particular layers. The aim of the presented work was to investigate the relationships between the thermal-insulation properties of single materials and multilayer textile packages composed of these materials. Measurement of the thermal-insulation properties of single and multilayer textile materials has been performed with the Alambeta. The following properties have been investigated: thermal conductivity, resistance and absorptivity. Investigated textile packages were composed of two, three and four layers made of woven and knitted fabrics, as well as nonwovens. On the basis of the obtained results an analysis has been carried out in order to assess the dependency of the resultant values of the thermal-insulation properties of multilayer packages on the appropriate values of particular components.