Nanotex protective treatment is the latest in textile finishing with wider application and has been proving to be a useful tool in improving the performance of textiles, affirms V Parthasarathi.

Nanotechnology is an umbrella term covering a wide range of technologies concerned with structures and processes on the nanometre scale. Because of its potential to change fundamentally whole fields of technology, nanotechnology is regarded as a key technology, which will not only influence technological development in the near future, but will also have economic, social and ecological implications.

Nanotechnology deals with the science and technology at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometres (1 Billion Nanometres = 1 Metre), although 100 nanometres presently is the practically attainable dimension for textile products and applications ⁽²⁾.

The technology can be used in engineering desired textile attributes, such as fabric softness, durability, and breath ability and in developing advanced performance characteristics, namely, water repellency, fire retardancy, antimicrobial resistance, etc in fibres, yarns and fabrics ⁽¹⁾.

Enhancement of textile materials by nanotechnology is expected to become a trillion dollar industry in the next decade, with tremendous technological, economic and ecologic benefits. It was estimated that for the year 2003, the worldwide government funding for the research and development in the area of nanotechnology had increased to $3 billion annually in addition to the millions of dollars invested private industries⁽³⁾ .

Although, textile industry is small part of the global research in the emerging areas of nano-technology, the fibres and textiles industries in fact were the first to have successfully implemented these advances and demonstrated the applications of nanotechnology for consumer usage.

With the advent of nano technology, a new area has developed in the realm of textile finishing. Nan coating the surface of textiles, clothing, and textiles for footwear is one approach to the production of highly active surfaces to have UV-blocking, antimicrobial and self-cleaning properties. The self-cleaning property can be imparted by nano-TiO₂/nano-ZnO coating ⁽⁶⁾.

From functional to intelligent and smart textiles

Intelligent clothing is articles of clothing, footwear or accessories that feature microelectronic sensors. Smart clothes are the combination of intelligent and fashionable clothing. The required thermal insulation of clothing system depends on the physical activity and on the surrounding conditions. The quantity of heat produced by the body depends very much on the physical activity and can vary from 100 W while resting to over 1,000 W during maximum activity. During the cooler seasons approximately 0 C, the recommended thermal insulation is defined in order to ensure that the body is sufficiently warm when resting ⁽²²⁾.

At a more intensive activity, this is the case with sportsmen, the body temperature increases with enhanced heat production. To keep this increase within a certain limit, the body perspires in order to withdraw energy from the body by evaporative cooling. Intelligent textiles used to improve insulation are the phase change materials and the shape memory materials. The other main application of intelligent materials is the fashion field, to create fantasy design thanks to the chromic materials. Some examples of these are: Music T-Shirts, business garments, solar energy recharge jacket, and etc. integration of electronic technology into clothing means the start of a whole new era in the fashion industry.