Anamarija Grancarić

Activated Natural Zeolites on Textiles: Protection from Radioactive Contamination

Clothing designed to protect against radioactive contamination was based on a simple principle. It was important not to inhale contaminated dust and air and to ensure that contaminated particles could not reach the skin. Therefore, the density of the textile was crucial. New developments, keeping in mind that textile should be lightweight, are focused on textiles which can chemically bind the contamination particles and not allow them either to diffuse to the skin or spread back into the environment. A great success would be if the clothing were made reusable (e.g., for use in the space station). Therefore, new methods (or chemical preparations) are being proposed for developing intelligent textiles.

Adsorption and Desorption of Ionic Surfactants

Abstract Surfactants as organic compounds are widely used in the processes of textile finishing and care with regard to different variations and specific hydrophilic/hydrophobic character. Specific behaviour of these compounds is partly based on the adsorption process. In this study the adsorption and desorption of ionic surfactants have been studied upon the influence of fibre composition and surfactant ionogenity as well as variation of hydrophobic chain length and hydrophilic group in the molecule. Textile fibres were characterized through electrokinetic potential, sorption characteristics and swelling capacity expressed by moisture regain and water retention value (WRV). Different types of cationic and anionic surfactants were adsorbed on cotton, wool, polyester and polypropylene fibres at 20°C during 60 minutes. The quantity of adsorbed surfactants on textile fibres was determined by potentiometric titration. The textile fibres were centrifuged afterwards and the amount of surfactants was determined in the centrifugate, respectively. Drying followed at 60°C. The desorption of surfactants was performed at 20°C during 30 minutes. The results showed a correlation between amount of adsorbed, desorbed and residual surfactants and swelling capacity expressed through WRV.

Conductive polymers for smart textile applications

Smart textiles are fabrics able to sense external conditions or stimuli, to respond and adapt behaviour to them in an intelligent way and present a challenge in several fields today such as health, sport, automotive and aerospace. Electrically conductive textiles include conductive fibres, yarns, fabrics, and final products made from them. Often they are prerequisite to functioning smart textiles, and their quality determines durability, launderability, reusability and fibrous performances of smart textiles. Important part in smart textiles development has conductive polymers which are defined as organic polymers able to conduct electricity. They combine some of the mechanical features of plastics with the electrical properties typical for metals. The most attractive in a group of these polymers are polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) as one of the polythiophene (PTh) derivatives. Commercially available smart textile products where conductive polymers have crucial role for their development are medical textiles, protective clothing, touch screen displays, flexible fabric keyboards, and sensors for various areas. This paper is focused on conductive polymers description, mechanism of their conductivity, and various approaches to produce electrically conductive textiles for smart textiles needs. Commercial products of conductive polymers-based smart textiles are presented as well as the objective of a number of lab-scale items.

Innovative monitoring of 3D warp interlock fabric during forming process

The final geometry of 3D warp interlock fabric needs to be check during the 3D forming step to ensure the right locations of warp and weft yarns inside the final structure. Thus, a new monitoring approach has been proposed based on sensor yarns located in the fabric thickness. To ensure the accuracy of measurements, the observation of the surface deformation of the 3D warp interlock fabric has been joined to the sensor yarns measurements. At the end, it has been revealed a good correlation between strain measurement done globally by camera and locally performed by sensor yarns.