Wool is an excellent fabricespecially during the winter seasons. Silk is a highly sophisticated fabric whosepotential was felt even before thousands of years. Both are natural fibres withunique characteristics. Their traits include resilience, draping properties,natural resistance to heat, excellent dyeing properties etc. But these fabricsare difficult to clean. Process of cleaning through water, and with detergentsmay damage the fine texture of the fabric while dry cleaning makes the processvery expensive. In ancient times woolen clothes were forbidden by Egyptianpriests performing temple rituals since wool was believed to be uncleanclothing. Researchers have now come up with a new technology wherein woolen,and silk clothing may clean themselves, get rid of the smell and stains in thesunshine. A nano particle coating, that is generally used to clean windowswould lead to self cleaning woolen, and silk fabrics.
Wool and silk are the most costlyfabrics in the clothing segment. But its delicate and fragile nature makes itsmaintenance, much difficult. These fabrics are composed of natural proteinscalled keratins that are vulnerable and can be damaged easily by harsh chemicaltreatments normally applied to clean garments. Researchers have now developed awoolen fabric with nanoparticle coating containing of particles around five nanometres.Keratin; present in silk, and woolen fabrics are bound with titanium dioxide. Applicationof ceramic, inorganic material to organic fibre like keratin is a tough task. Thetechnology uses titanium dioxide photo catalyst that destroys dirt, stains, andharmful micro organisms when activated by sunlight. The coating in the fabric iscomposed of anatase titanium dioxide, a substance which can wipe outcontaminants when exposed to sunlight.
Researchers selected two fabricsfor testing. One fabric was coated with the nano particle, and the other onewas a plain fabric. Both the fabrics were stained with red wine and were leftin sunlight for 20 hours. The nano particle coated fabric did not have anysigns of stain, whereas the untreated fabric still remained deeply stained.
Self cleaning fabrics can be manufactured by simple coating process with anatase TiO2 under mild conditions. Modification of these proteins with succinic anhydride introduces additional carboxylic groups by acylation gives enhanced bonding between TiO2, and the fibres and thus results in a more effective self cleaning process. This coating is non-toxic and does not influence the texture, color, or feel of the fabric. Titanium dioxide is made to stick to the fibres and a chemical reaction is used to activate the surface of the fibres.
Wool and silk are the fabrics that have kept its popularity for hundreds of years. New innovations in the field of textile enable the consumers to preserve these clothing for long years. This technology helps in reducing the consumption of detergents, dry cleaning agents, and water. Self cleaning fabrics will become a standard feature in the future of textiles.
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