Coatings & treatments for PPE and protective apparel
Coatings and treatments at the fiber level are primarily utilized as a process aid. These ingredients can be used to heat stabilize the fiber while it is spun and stretched. They can also make the fibers easier to convert into the final fabric, and they can even be washed away during the process. Meanwhile, coatings, …
Intelligent fibers
I recently received a call from Yoel Fink, Ph.D., the founder of Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) and a professor of Materials Science and Electrical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Fink is leading a course called Computing Fabrics – the first class on fabrics taught at MIT in the past century …
What is a biofiber?
A biofiber is a fiber derived of biological origin, whether produced naturally or via a regenerated process. The classification can be broken down further as a collection of cells in which the diameter is negligible in comparison with the length, which is consistent with the definition of a manmade polymer. A polymer is a larger …
How should we handle the plastics in the environment problem?
Environmental footprints are a metric for the measurement of human demand on natural capital. This measurement attempts to consider multiple impacts of an activity rather than focusing on a single one. In the textile industry the environmental footprint considers the impacts of carbon, water, land and air from textile production. The textile industry is a …
Fiber innovation follows its natural course
Fiber technology development is critical to the advancement of textile applications in the modern age for many reasons. The 20th-century ideal was to create mass production of plastic fibers that would last forever. By contrast, today’s fiber technology development places a premium on fibers that decay gracefully. The characteristics of the fiber and fabric structure …