This article reviews the preparation, development and characteristics of conductive polymer-based electro-conductive textile composites for electromagnetic interference shielding. Modification of ordinary textile materials in the form of electro-conductive composites makes them suitable for this purpose. Various metallic and non-metallic electro-conductive textiles have been explored here as the material for electromagnetic shielding. Different approaches of preparing textile electromagnetic shield have been described here. Recent advancements of application of conductive polymers in the field of textile electromagnetic shielding are described. Conductive polymer-coated textile materials showed superior electrical property as electromagnetic shield. Different methods of applications of conductive polymers onto textile surface are described here with their relative merits and demerits. Different conductive polymer-coated woven and nonwoven fabrics prepared by various researchers for electromagnetic shielding are taken into account. The effects of different process parameters of polymer processing on electromagnetic shielding are described.
7 December 2012 in International Journal of Textile Science
Jute fibre is a promising reinforcement for use in composites on account of its low cost, low density, high specific strength and modulus, no health risk, easy availability, renewability and much lower energy requirement for processing. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in finding new applications for jute fibre reinforced composites that are traditionally used for making ropes, bags, hessians, sacking, mats, and carpet.To protect environment, consumptions of wood should be reduced that will increase number of tree in the world which can maintain the balance in nature. A major portion of woods are used for making home furniture, household products and building and constructions. In all these cases wood can be replaced by composite materials made from natural fibres like jute, coir, sisal etc.Jute fibre composites enjoy excellent potential as wood substitutes in view of their low cost, easy availability, saving in energy and pollution free production. In order to improve upon the laboratory-industry linkages towards application development & commercialization, some advanced composites mission launched on jute composites such as 'Jute-Coir Composites Boards’, 'Jute-glass composite components for railway coaches’ and others.The use of jute fiber mats in combination with polymer films potentially offers a rapid and simple means of manufacturing composites through film stacking, heating and press-consolidation.
20 January 2014 in The Journal of the Textile Institute
This work deals with the preparation and characterization of electrically conductive textiles for heat generation. Needlepunched nonwoven, spunlace nonwoven, and woven fabrics, all made of 100% polyester fibers, were made electrically conductive by in situ chemical polymerization of pyrrole with p-toluene sulfonic acid dopant. Alkali hydrolysis of polyester fabrics was done before in situ polymerization for better fixation of polypyrrole on polyester. The average surface resistivities were found to be 1013.08, 1099.72, and 1434.12 Ω/□, respectively, for needlepunched, spunlace, and woven fabrics. The electro-conductive fabrics displayed exponential rise of surface temperature on application of voltage and the rise of temperature was found to be related to the time duration of applied voltage. The electro-conductive fabrics exhibited linear voltage–current relationship at low voltage range. The surface resistivity of the electro-conductive fabrics was increased substantially on prolong exposure to atmosphere.
On the eve of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a tremendous increase in the production of facemasks across the world. The primary raw materials for the manufacturing of the facemasks are non-biodegradable synthetic polymers derived from petrochemicals. Disposal of these synthetic facemasks increases waste-load in the environment causing severe ecological issues for flora and fauna. The synthesis processes of the polymers from the petrochemical by-products were also not eco-friendly, which releases huge greenhouse and harmful gases. Therefore, many research organizations and entrepreneurs realize the need for biodegradable facemasks to render similar performance as the existing non-biodegradable masks. The conventional textile fabrics made of natural fibers like cotton, flax, hemp, etc., can also be used to prepare facemasks with multiple layers in use for general protection. Such natural textile masks can be made anti-microbial by applying various herbal anti-microbial extracts like turmeric, neem, basil, aloe vera, etc. As porosity is the exclusive feature of the masks for arresting tiny viruses, the filter of the masks should have a pore size in the nanometre scale, and that can be achieved in nanomembrane manufactured by electrospinning technology. This article reviews the various scopes of electrospinning technology for the preparation of nanomembrane biomasks. Besides protecting us from the virus, the biomasks can be useful for skin healing, skincare, auto-fragrance, and organized cooling which are also discussed in this review article.
23 August 2014 in Journal of Applied Polymer Science