Virginia mallow or <i>Sida hermaphrodita</i> (L.) Rusby (SH) is a perennial plant from the Malvaceae family (mallows) that is used for medicinal purposes, reducing soil erosion, cleaning soil, and most recently for energy production. The potential of sustainable lignocellulosic agro-waste is immense as it represents Earth’s most abundant organic compound. This paper explores fibers isolated from SH stems, a plant with significant industrial application potential, including technical textiles and biocomposites. The fibers were harvested in January, March, and November of 2020 and in January and March of 2021, and their yield, mechanical properties, moisture content, and density were thoroughly analyzed. The fiber yield showed slight variations depending on the harvest time, with consistent results observed across different years, suggesting stable productivity. The SH fibers demonstrated a favorable moisture content, making them suitable for storage and processing, and their density ranged between 1.52 and 1.58 g/cm<sup>3</sup>, comparable to that of other natural fibers. According to this research, the best mechanical properties were observed in the winter harvest. Furthermore, the high percentage of solid residue left after fiber extraction shows promise for sustainable utilization, primarily for biofuel production. This study underscores the versatility and sustainability of SH fibers, positioning them as a valuable resource for a wide range of industrial applications.
Chemicals: Manufacture, use, etc., Textile bleaching, dyeing, printing, etc.
Bianca Eleonora, Parisi Mariafederica, Colombo Daniel
et al.
Auxetic foams and lattices, characterized by a negative Poisson’s ratio, offer unique mechanical and thermal properties that make them promising candidates for next-generation sports and outdoor equipment. This study investigates the application of auxetic materials in the shoulder straps of trekking backpacks to improve both mechanical performance and thermal comfort. First, EVA foam samples were cut using water jet technology to create different auxetic geometries. After conducting tensile tests and digital image correlation analyses, the re-entrant geometry was identified as the most effective. Based on these findings, three types of shoulder straps were developed: a standard model and two auxetic models that differed in cutting pattern (one with undulating and one with linear edges) to evaluate their effects on deformation behavior. After further testing, the auxetic design with wavy edges proved to be superior and was integrated into a fully functional backpack prototype. Tests were then conducted on human subjects to determine whether the auxetic structure improved thermophysiological comfort and load distribution compared to a standard model made from the same materials. The study ultimately led to the development of a patented design for backpacks with auxetic shoulder straps and highlighted their potential to improve the user experience in outdoor applications.
Marker efficiency is a very important term in garment industry. We all know that in cutting section of garment industry there is a high possibility of fabric wastage. And with the high marker efficiency we can decrease the wastage. And obviously the lower wastage will secure the loss of time and money. In the garment industries marker planning is done with a single marker width with single size set ratio. But, variable marker width with variable size ratio can be used for maximum marker efficiency. By using variable marker width and variable size set we wanted to maximize the marker efficiency in this research. After getting the maximum average efficiency it was found more efficient than the factory for a particular style. This will help in achieving more profit and loose wastage. We here increased the marker efficiency by 6.01% more than the Factory efficiency and by which we decreased a huge amount of fabric wastage besides getting more profit than before.
The brittle nature of concrete sometimes makes it challenging for many critical applications. Research has indicated that including discrete short-length, closely spaced fibers in concrete could improve its ductility and act as a crack arrester. As Bangladesh is the prime producer of natural fiber jute, this research aimed to improve the concrete property with this biomaterial. Laboratory work evaluated the mechanical property and shrinkage cracking resistance of jute fiber reinforced concrete with different fiber fractions (viz. 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, and 0.4% by concrete volume) and lengths. The fibers were designated J20 and J25 for 20 and 25-mm lengths, respectively. A portion of the fiber was treated with alkali before using in concrete to improve its property. Jute Fiber Reinforced Concrete (JFRC) was analyzed qualitatively, semi-quantitatively, and quantitatively for compressive, splitting tensile strength, and plastic shrinkage cracking. It was found that the compressive and splitting tensile strengths can be improved by 7% and 25%, respectively. Furthermore, the bio-fiber had a significant influence on shrinkage crack control. In a controlled environment, up to 61% crack area and 62% maximum crack width reduction were achieved. Overall, jute fiber was found to be a sustainable biomaterial for concrete construction in an arid region.
Science, Textile bleaching, dyeing, printing, etc.
Nadia Moneem Al-Abdaly, Mahdi J. Hussein, Hamza Imran
et al.
This article presents a mathematical model developed using the M5P tree to predict the shear strength of steel-fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) for slender beams using soft computing techniques. This method is becoming increasingly popular for addressing complex technical problems. Other approaches, such as semi-empirical equations, can show known inaccuracies, and some soft computing methods may not produce predictive equations. The model was trained and tested using 332 samples from an experimental database found in the previous literature, and it takes into account independent variables such as the effective depth <i>d</i>, beam width <i>b<sub>w</sub></i>, longitudinal reinforcement ratio <i>ρ</i>, concrete compressive strength <i>f<sub>c</sub></i>, shear span to effective depth ratio <i>a</i>/<i>d</i>, and steel fiber factor <i>F<sub>sf</sub></i>. The predictive performance of the proposed M5P-based model was also compared with the one of existing models proposed in the previous literature. The evaluation revealed that the M5P-based model provided a more consistent and accurate prediction of the actual strength compared to the existing models, achieving an R<sup>2</sup> value of 0.969 and an RMSE value of 37.307 for the testing dataset. It was found to be a reliable and also straightforward model. The proposed model is likely to be highly helpful in assessing the shear capacity of SFRC beams during the pre-planning and pre-design stages and could also be useful to help for future revisions of design standards.
Chemicals: Manufacture, use, etc., Textile bleaching, dyeing, printing, etc.
There are invalid and redundant features in the texture feature extraction method of cashmere and wool fibers, which leads to the low recognition accuracy. In this paper, a novel texture feature selection method based on local binary pattern, the gray level co-occurrence matrix algorithm and chi-square test was proposed to sufficiently extract the effective features of these two fibers. Firstly, the collected images of cashmere and wool fibers are processed to obtain the clear texture images with background removed by pre-processing algorithm and local binary pattern. Then, the texture features are calculated by the gray level co-occurrence matrix, and the optimal 5-dimensional features are extracted by chi-square test to represent the texture information of cashmere and wool. Finally, the two fibers are automatically classified and recognized based on the support vector machine. The experimental results show that the proposed method obtained a high recognition accuracy with the percent of 94.39. It verifies that the method based on texture feature selection is effective to identify cashmere and wool fibers.
Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials, Chemical technology
HASAN TAHIR, Benny Malengier, Carla Hertleer
et al.
A textile-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is an energy harvesting flexible and lightweight device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. This work presents characterization of a novel hybrid 3D printed embroidery TENG for energy harvesting. The digital embroidery part is done on Brother Embroidery Machine PR670E with polyester multifilament conductive hybrid thread (CleverTex) with a linear thread resistance of 280 Ω/m. This embroidery thread is fully compatible with the standard textile embroidery process. The thread is highly suitable for embroidery due to its very good mechanical properties and no loop formation during embroidery. These features make the thread especially suitable for high production quality. It could be used as needle thread or bobbin thread. For the preparation of the embroidery part, the polyester multifilament conductive hybrid thread is used as needle thread with 100% polyester Madeira thread as bobbin thread. These threads have non-toxic, non-skin irritation properties, which makes them suitable for smart wearable energy harvesting applications. Furthermore, these threads are coated with silicone-paraffin emulsions that improve their running during the embroidery process. Among the possible stitch types (satin, fill, prog. fill, piping, motif, cross, concentric circle, radial, spiral, flexible spiral, stippling, net fill, zigzag net fill, and decorative fill), fill stitch with medium stitch density and 4.5 lines per mm has been used to develop this energy harvesting sample. The 3D printed textile fabric is prepared with extremely flexible filament with a tensile elongation at break of 1400%. The output voltage is 200 V and 103 V for tapping and friction characterization, respectively
Textile bleaching, dyeing, printing, etc., Engineering machinery, tools, and implements
The research work presents the comparative study on finite element modal analysis of 14 layers E-glass epoxy (G/E plate) and 10 layers basalt epoxy (B/E plate) composite angle-ply trapezoidal plate for various boundary conditions. The G/E and B/E plate having fiber orientations of [0°/+45°/0°/-45°/0°/+45°/0°]s and [0°/+45°/0°/-45°/0°]s are considered for fabricating plates using compression molding technique to minimize void content. Then, orthotropic properties are determined by experimental testing as per ASTM standards. The effects of different geometrical parameters including aspect ratio (a/b = 1 and 2), taper ratio (c/b = 0.25–1), and span-to-thickness ratio (a/h = 50) of trapezoidal plates on undamped modal analysis are done for G/E and B/E plates. A shell 281 element, which obeys first-order shear deformation theory, is applied in commercial finite element software to extract the natural frequencies and mode shapes for various boundary conditions using properties determined by experimental testing. The calculated mechanical properties are compared between G/E plate and B/E plate, and the results show basalt fiber as alternative material to E-glass fiber. The results of nondimensional frequency parameters and mode shapes of G/E and B/E plate also show good agreement with previous research work.
Science, Textile bleaching, dyeing, printing, etc.
Jaszczak Malwina, Sąsiadek-Andrzejczak Elżbieta, Grabowska Katarzyna
The article is an invitation to the Autex 2022 - 21st World Textile Conference, which is organized by the Faculty of Material Technologies and Textile Design, Lodz University of Technology, Lodz, Poland. The conference will be held ONLINE on the 7th to the 10th June 2022, under the motto Passion for innovation. The conference will be focused on the latest scientific and technical achievements in the field of textiles.
Growing environmental concerns have made more people aware of waste utilization and management. Agro-waste is becoming to be one of the main contributors to the environmental issue. From a circular economy perspective, the agro-waste, such as natural fibers (NFs) as well as natural particulates (NPs) found in various parts of the crop, can be utilized for the development of new materials. In particular, the main problem of utilizing these wastes for blending into the polymer matrix is their hydrophilicity. which results in “low mechanical properties of the” composite. To enable the NFs and NPs to be adhered to the matrix, they have to be treated, whether chemically or physically. Treatments that focus on increasing the hydrophobicity can result in significant enhancement in the adhesion of the NF and NP with the matrix. the focus of the current work is primarily on the modulation of the mechanical properties of the polymer-based composite material arising from treatment to the surfaces of the NF and NP. This review covers the physical properties of several important NFs and NPs, the different types of chemical treatments available; the processing of the NF and NP reinforced thermoplastic composites, and the mechanical properties of the composite materials.
Science, Textile bleaching, dyeing, printing, etc.
Ivana Salopek Cubric, Goran Cubric, Vesna Marija Potocic Matkovic
et al.
The properties of the material used for the production of sportswear, as well as the properties of the sportswear, directly affect the heat exchange and sweat transfer that occurs at the interface between the skin and the environment. Thermography is a valuable method that provides insight into the patterns of temperature distribution on the surface of human skin that change during sports training or intense exercise. Such patterns can be further used to improve the design of sportswear. The experiment presented in this paper focuses on studying the changes in body temperature of the participating subjects during two typical types of training in football (condition training and tactical training). The duration of each training session was 60 minutes and measurements were taken after each of the total 10 training sessions. The thermal camera was used to measure the upper body temperatures of the players and the professional software was used for further processing of the thermal images. In the analysis of the thermal data, the average temperatures for 9 anterior and 9 posterior zones of the upper body were obtained. The results related to the changes in average temperature for each observed anterior and posterior zone and two types of football training are presented and discussed.
Textile bleaching, dyeing, printing, etc., Engineering machinery, tools, and implements
In this study, an algebraic model and its experimental verification was carried out to investigate the effect of moisture content on the heat loss that takes place due to conduction of sock fabrics. The results show that increasing moisture content in the studied socks caused a significant increase in their conductive heat loss. Plain knitted socks with different fiber composition were wetted to a saturated level, and then their moisture content was reduced stepwise. When achieving the required moisture content, the socks samples were characterized by the Alambeta testing instrument for heat transfer. Three different existing modified mathematical models for the thermal conductivity of wet fabrics were used for predicting thermal resistance of socks under wet conditions. The results from both ways are in very good agreement for all the socks at a 95% confidence level. In the above-mentioned models, the prediction of thermal resistance presents newly a combined effect of the real filling coefficient and thermal conductivity of the so-called “wet” polymers instead of dry polymers. With these modifications, the used models predicted the thermal resistance at different moisture levels. Predicted thermal resistance is converted into heat transfer (due to conduction) with a significantly high coefficient of correlation.
The fabric tear strength is an important parameter in textile material, ever since it is close to relate to the service of the fabric. Tear strength of the fabrics depends on the flexibility of the yarn in fabric structure. In this research, the tear strength of 11 cotton woven fabrics is analyzed based on the weave parameters such as crossing over firmness factor (CFF), Floating Yarn Factor (FYF), Fabric Firmness Factor (FFF) and weave factor (P1).
Science, Textile bleaching, dyeing, printing, etc.
Puszkarz Adam K., Wojciechowski Jarosław, Krucińska Izabella
The article presents the results of an attempt to use high-resolution X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) to model the thermal insulation of clothing as one of the most important parameters affecting the heat balance between a human and his/her surroundings. Cotton knitted fabric applied in functional clothing for newborns and aramid woven fabric used in multilayer protective clothing for firefighters were the tested materials. The 3D models of real textiles based on micro-CT images were developed. Next, the models were applied to heat transfer simulations using the finite volume method. The usefulness of the models was experimentally verified using thermography with real textiles. The simulation results were consistent with the measurement results and confirmed the relationship between the thermal insulation and geometry of the textiles on the one hand and the physical parameters of the raw materials from which they were made on the other hand.
Due to the high specific surface area, high mechanical strength and broad possibility of surface modification, nanocellulose has obtained much attention as a new class of bio-based nanomaterials with promising potential in a wide variety of applications. Recently, a considerable amount of research has been aimed to the fabrication of nanocellulose based hybrid membranes for water treatment. However, nanocellulose based hybrid gas separation membrane is still a new research area. Herein, we force on recent advancements in the fabrication methods and separation performances of nanocellulose-based hybrid membranes for CO<sub>2</sub> separation, the transport mechanisms involved, along with the challenges in the utilization of nanocellulose in membranes. Finally, some perspectives on future R&D of nanocellulose-based membranes for CO<sub>2</sub> separation are proposed.
Chemicals: Manufacture, use, etc., Textile bleaching, dyeing, printing, etc.
Photochromic colorants change rapidly and reversibly from colorless to colored state when activated by ultraviolet radiation. They can be applied on textile substrates with use of organic binders. Different type of binders and their concentration may have a significant effect on color development and other related properties. In this work, a study of the effect of binder type at different concentrations on the color development, wash fastness and some comfort characteristics is undertaken. It was found that while these properties vary with binder type and concentration, the best color development is obtained at an optimum concentration of 5% binder. The presence of binder may affect comfort related properties of the fabrics, such as stiffness, water absorbency, air permeability, sometimes quite adversely. Hence a careful selection of the binder type is needed depending on the most important requirement in the colored fabrics.
Science, Textile bleaching, dyeing, printing, etc.
Zita Tomčikova , Anna Ujhelyiova , Peter Michlik
et al.
A special photoluminescent inorganic pigment was used as a tool to protect polypropylene (PP) fibre originality. The effect of pigment content and uniaxial deformation on the supermolecular structure and basic mechanical properties of PP fibres modified with the above-mentioned pigment were investigated, together with its colour performance under a UV lamp. Supermolecular structure parameters, such as birefringence, sound velocity in fibres, crystallinity and the crystallinity index of undrawn and drawn modified PP fibres prepared using a discontinuous technological process, were studied. Mechanical properties such as fi neness, Young’s modulus, tenacity at break and elongation at break of undrawn and drawn modified fibres were evaluated. The obtained experimental results of modified PP fibres were compared with the supermolecular structure and mechanical characteristics of standard unmodified PP fibres prepared under same technological conditions.