A number of products are manufactured and supplied by
various manufacturers to offer protection from hazardous particulates as well
as liquid and gaseous substances. The chemical protective clothing includes
gloves, boots, face mask, aprons and also highly sophisticated system enable encapsulated
suit.
Clean Room Textiles (CRT)
In case of CRT where the environment is protected from the
wearer for clothing carrier a good amount of dust, ions, hair, tobacco smoke
and it is said that the human body sheds 1 billion skin cells every day. The
clean room textiles should be lint free, antistatic and should retard human
contamination of textiles. Institute of environmental services recommends
different types of garments for clean room. Woven, non woven and laminate
fabrics are used for clean room.
The main properties of the fabrics require optimum
filtration efficiency, moisture vapour transmission rate, static decay property
and Flame retardance. The typical air permeability range is 1 to 45 cfm and
typical filtration efficiency varies from 50-60% for particles measuring 0.3 to
0.5 microns. Conductive yarns such as carbon, nickel or aluminum can be woven
in the clean room fabrics. The chemical protection ability and the flame
retardency are added requirements during fabrication of clean room garment.
Protection from Radiation
People working in radioactive environment require such kind
of outfits so that the transfer of radioactive materials to the human skin is
prevented. Radiation protection is necessary for employees of nuclear plant,
x-ray professionals and the workers working in cancer treatment centres.
Nuclear protection fabrics are made of cotton, polyester cotton, nylon polyester.
One of the techniques for use of protection from gamma, beta emissions from an
artificial material is by shielding the same using lead (Pb) metal barrier
between the radioactive dirt. Protective clothing from radiation include head
cover, gloves, shoe covers, etc.
Protection from Extreme Cold
These insulating materials offer protection while playing
the wonderful games under the extreme cold conditions. The material with fine
denier yarn offers better insulation as compared to that of the coarser denier.
High Visibility Materials
HVMs have become very essential for the protection of
pedestrians. Accidents in us 110ne in the night due to the vehicles, result in
the death of more than 4,000 pedestrians and injury of more than 30,000
annually. In the dark, HVM clothes increase the detectability and application
of such high visibility material (HVM) has resulted in 40% decline was
observed in such road accidents. There are 3 main type of HVM:
1)
Reflection
materials which shine when struck by light,
2)
Photo
luminescent material which give yellow light in dark
3)
Fluorescent
material which is visible during the day.
Textile substrates of these kinds are used in personnel
safety products. Fabrics covered with reflective micro prison sheeting offer
high visibility for personnel safety. They are used by pedestrians, cyclists,
joggers, police etc. Personnel's working in airlines, law enforcement and
medical field also make use of reflective materials. Photoluminiscent materials
absorb the daylight or artificial light and emit green- yellow light in the
darkness. Zincsulphide crystals which are non radioactive and non toxic
pigments provide the visibility in the dark.
Nanotechnology Applications
The application of nano technology in the field of textiles
and apparels is gaining increasing importance. Nanotechnology is defined as the
utilization of structures with at least 1 dimension of nano size for the
construction of material with improved properties owing to such a small size.
Commonly, the products in the range of 1100 nano meters are considered to be
nano particles. It has been proved beyond doubts that permanent effect with
improved performance properties even after repeated laundering are possible in
case of textile goods manufacturer using nano technology.
Nano particles have high surface area to volume ratio and
thus present increased affinity for fabric which leads to improved durability.
Some of the finishes based on nano particles are found to maintain the
breathability and soft hand. A US based Berlinton industry first reported the
nano technology application under the trade name Nano-text. The nano materials
can be applied to textile by coating using various other ingredients and by
varying the technology of coating. Out of the many possible applications in
textile, some of the most successful one are water repellence, soil resistance,
UV protection, anti bacterial and anti static finishes and as well as wrinkle
resistance.