2012 AATCC Materials Symposium

Nonwovens Market Update - Rory Holmes, Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA)
The Global Market for Nonwoven Fabrics is growing at almost 7%/year. This presentation will provide a situation analysis for several regions of the world and then detail the nonwoven technologies and markets that are growing and those that are not. The presentation finishes with some comments on global trade between the United States and its partners.

Specialty Fabrics Market Update -Jeffrey C. Rasmussen, Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI)
The presentation will focus mostly on the U.S. specialty fabrics market—market size, market factors influencing growth, key markets, growing markets, emerging markets such as smart fabrics, and the outlook for the market. It will also include brief overviews for end-product manufacturers in the following markets: automobile and light trucks, military, truck covers, boating, awnings, and geosynthetics.

Nonwoven Web Forming Developments - Daniel M. Feroe, Andritz Küsters
The development of dry-laid nonwovens over the past 25 years has followed the increase in capacities of the following process and expansion in widths, especially in spunlace applications but has often played a secondary role as technologies to manage web weight for balancing CD weight variation in the needlepunched felts along with improved technologies in needlepunching. The focus has often been on the batt forming along with the needle looms with enhanced needle patterns for optimized visual characteristics as well as other down line processes leaving the card as a “given” within the overall project planning as the card has always been capable of following the required speeds, range of web weights and widths required in crosslapped batt forming nonwovens.

The intent in this paper is to highlight advances in carding and what impact web forming technologies can bring to the manufacturer of nonwoven felts and why these advances bring added value and capability to downstream bonding technologies such as spunlacing and needlepunch bonding systems.

Needlepunch Developments – An Update - Terry Purdy, Dilo Inc.
This paper will outline some of the available upgrade opportunities for existing and new
needlefelt lines which can improve production capacity, felt quality and properties.
These range from the web drafter which allows optimum card utilization even on
lightweight fabrics to uniformity control and elliptical motion needlelooms
Control of weight variation not only improves product quality but also reduces the
amount of fibre required to meet specification. Elliptical needling minimizes
uncontrolled draft in the needle zone and finds increased use in technical applications.
Felt initial modulus can now be controlled by incorporating a drafting zone in the loom
take off system

Nonwoven Needle Developments and New Products - Mike Pate, Foster Needle Company
The Twisted Needle has been manufactured and tested on 36, 38, and 40 gauge standard needles as well as the Star Blade and Pinch Blade styles. Preliminary evaluations show positive results in areas of needling efficiency, product compaction, and aesthetics. Initial trials were made running side-by-side comparisons of a standard needle versus a twisted equivalent. In each case the Twisted Needle transferred more fiber. The felt appearance remained the same or improved and loft was reduced at the same oz weight. Product compaction could help reduce shipping cost by increasing the number of rolls that could be shipped on a truck.

Can Bio-Derived Polymers Compete? - Michael Jaffe, New Jersey Institute of Technology
A great deal of effort is being devoted to developing biological (sustainable) routes to monomers (propane diol, butane diol) and polymers identical to (PE, PET) or competitive with (PLA, PHA) petroleum-derived materials. While some success has been achieved, these materials struggle to be cost-competitive. Isosorbide is a sugar-derived diol that may offer competitive advantage to broad range of products including thermoplastics, thermosets, polymer additives and polymer modifiers. In some cases the structural complexity of bio-derived chemistries may enable performance difficult to achieve with conventional chemistry; two examples of this are isosorbide modified PET with improved thermal stability and soy protein modified synthetic fibers with improved hand. Assigning a value to sustainability has been difficult but it appears sustainability and renewability are an advantage if cost-competitiveness is achieved.

Cellulose Micro and Nano Structures for Advance Material Applications - Tom Theyson, TensTech Inc.
Cellulose is by far the most common naturally occurring material in nature. Micro and nano forms of cellulose represent a major area for active research and development. These cellulosic forms appear to have the potential to significantly modify the way we develop and design high strength materials; ranging from fibers and fabrics to ballistic barriers to high strength materials for medical, automotive, aerospace and consumer applications. The presentation will review the recent developments in the area ranging from newly identified micro cellulosic forms to emerging technology in the area of cellulose nano-crystals (CNCs).

Cotton Performance Technologies - David Earley, Cotton Incorporated
The U.S. athletic apparel market accounts for approximately $30 Billion in retail sales and represents approximately 16% of U.S. apparel sales. This influential category drives innovation in the apparel market and strongly influences other apparel categories, especially with consumers’ active lifestyles and the crossover of athletic apparel into general wear uses. Although cotton has faced increasing competition to its share in the category, the development of performance technologies for cotton has led to increasing acceptance of cotton as a true performance fiber and successful commercial adoption by major global brands. This presentation will address several technology innovations developed by Cotton Incorporated and illustrate how these functional finishes give cotton a competitive edge over typical synthetic fibers.

The Coca-Cola Company’s PlantBottle - Robert Kriegel, The Coca-Cola Company

Sustainability is one of the key drivers for The Coca-Cola Company in terms building and maintaining the social license to operate in the markets we serve. Combined with recycling, material usage reduction, encouraging reuse of recycled PET, renewable PET helps complete our sustainability platform. We engaged in a journey to bring renewable PET to the market in a manner that is cost competitive with current production technologies and in a manner that is revolutionary. To achieve this goal, we need to build scale. The PlantBottle journey will be presented and future developments, including the partnering with non-packaging PET users (such as fiber and textile industries) will be discussed.

Composite Aerogels of Soy Proteins and Cellulose Nanofibrils - Julio Arboleda, North Carolina State University
Aerogels from cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) and soy proteins (SPs) were produced by using precursor aqueous dispersions and a technique that was optimized to reduce channeling and defect formation in systems with relatively large sizes. It is found that precursor composite hydrogels with initial total solids content of 8% can be easily processed into aerogels with apparent densities of the order of 0.1 g/cm3, which can be further reduced by using more diluted precursor systems. As the SP loading is increased the morphology of the obtained aerogels transitions from fibrillar, close cell of large porosity to smaller open cells. It is demonstrated that replacement of the more expensive CNF with SP allows the production of aerogels with a multiplicity of chemical features from the amino acid contribution while keeping a high compression modulus of XXX Julio is calculating it (also will be added in the main text where appropriate) even at SP loadings as high as ca. 70%. Equilibrium moisture of 4-5% of aerogels in air with 50% RH was affected to a limited extent by the composition. The physical integrity of the aerogels was maintained upon immersion in polar and non-polar solvents, water and hexane, respectively. Julio to add comment and figures about kinetics of fluid uptake. Finally, potential uses for these newly developed green materials, which are based on two important and widely abundant renewable resources is briefly discussed.

Soy: Material Resource for Materials - Michael Jaffe, New Jersey Institute of Technology

The United Soy Board is supporting abroad based program to utilize soy protein in value added materials applications. Fibers, both textile and specialty, represent such an attractive opportunity. A review of USB programs will be followed by a detailed discussion of an approach to produce commercially viable soy fiber products by plasticized “melt spinning” and a new electrospinning process.

Modification of Cotton Fibers for Percutaneous Protection from Liquid and Vapor Threat
Agents - Jeff Owens, Air Force Research Laboratory
In this presentation we report the preparation and performance of cotton swatches treated with silica nanoparticles (NPs), and heptadecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrodecyltrimethoxysilane (FS) by microwave-assisted techniques creating a material capable of repelling liquid challenges and adsorbing vapor challenges from a sarin surrogate. The individual fibers of the cotton textile are encapsulated by a silica matrix serving as a framework capable of binding SiO2 NPs and FS onto the fabric. Microwave-treated cotton swatches were tested for vapor sorption against DMMP and 3-heptene-2-one, which simulate physical properties of sarin, by packed column and permeation breakthrough experiments. Quantitative information about the repellency of treated cotton swatches was determined by goniometry using water, ethylene glycol, diiodomethane, n-hexadecane, and tributylphosphate; the last simulates physical properties of [2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl]-O-ethyl methylphosphonothioate, also known as agent VX.

Self-cleaning Superoleophobic Surfaces–No Trail Left Behind - Hoon Joo Lee, North Carolina State University
Individual protective equipment may be exposed to an extreme environment that consists of a wide range of liquids such as industrial toxic chemicals. Currently, a number of commercially available liquid-repellent coatings may afford a high degree of repellency to water but not to liquids that have low surface tension and/or high volatility. To create a highly hydrophobic and oleophobic surface and to extend the properties to self-cleaning that makes liquids completely run off leaving no trail behind, a better understanding of the interaction between the design of surface morphology and the use of low surface energy constituents is required. The multi-scale rough surface we have designed, modeled, and developed, clearly demonstrates superhydrophobicity, superoleophobicity, and the “real” self-cleaning against both water and low surface tension liquids.

Functionalized Nanofibers for Personal Protection Applications - Howard Walls, Research Triangle Institute

Filters and protective garments protect the wearer from toxic airborne particles and liquid droplets (i.e. aerosols). However, once collected the particles and liquids contaminate the surface presenting a persistent threat and complicate disposal.

We are exploring new concepts in functionalization of fibers to enable capture and neutralization of harmful aerosols. Our technologies conformally coat a polymer fiber and coat throughout the entire volume of the fibrous matrix. We use special versions of chemical vapor deposition: atomic layer deposition, molecular layer deposition, and vapor phase infiltration. The coatings can also be used as nucleation surfaces for growth of nano-crystals. We have functionalized fibers with metal oxides such as TiO2, ZnO, Al2O3; porous organic-inorganic networks; and metal-organic frameworks.

Breathable Medical Barrier Fabrics - Rory Wolf, Enercon Industries
One of the most demanded properties of barrier fabrics for medical applications is the
developments of a low cost non-woven material that is breathable, sterilizable, flexible, and
resistant to blood and viral penetration. There are many potential techniques which have been
considered to produce such a fabric, such as through increased basis weight, the application of
barrier coatings or films, using meltblown and bi-component fibers, and others. However, many
of these techniques add substantial cost, rigidity, and decrease the feel and comfort of the fabric. A new technique has been developed which leverages the in-line continuous processing
advantages of atmospheric plasma technology to improve nonwoven breathability, as well as
improved surface modification results for natural fabric properties such as cotton wax content,
abrasion resistance and tensile strength. The Atmospheric Plasma Treatment (APT) process
allows treatment using a broad range of reactive gases and has been successfully tested on
various nonwoven fabrics. Further, depending upon the magnitude of surface effect required and type of nonwoven material, line speeds in excess of 200 fpm are practical and greater than 500 fpm have been achieved. This presentation will review the latest data regarding the key benefits for applying APT for processing medical fabrics.

Plasma Surface Modification Processes for High Performance Textiles and Fibers - Mikki Larner, Plasma Technology Systems
Gas plasma is a powerful controlled method for molecular reengineering of materials to impart tailored surface properties, without affecting the bulk properties. The technology provides a large chemistry toolbox enabling diverse applications in vacuum and atmospheric pressures.

Historical plasma processes for the textile industries include de-sizing, hydrophilization and activation for subsequent coatings and finishes to include resins and dyes. Commercial materials modified include UHMWPE, carbon, aramids, LCPs, NYCO and PP-PE fibers, wovens and non-wovens.

Current applications include creation of tailored functional groups for smart textiles; modification of wound care scaffolds and bandages for drug loading, attachment of antimicrobials and other non-fouling coatings; degradation modification for bioabsorbables; deposition of covalently bound omniphobic thin film coatings for permeation control throughout the interstices of non-wovens; and functional chemistries to trap biomolecules or chemicals for further detection. Other practices include modification of fibers and powders for incorporation into composite structures to create high performance reinforcements.

The presentation will provide an overview of the diverse plasma processes applied for commercial materials in the textiles industry. Discussions will also include recent laboratory advances.

Shaken but not Stirred, Japan Decontamination Operations Lessons Learned - Larry Stack, CBI Polymers
DeconGel is a protective coating and decontamination agent used in Japan for the decontamination of structures contaminated with radioisotopes, chemicals and heavy metals. Hear operational lessons learned gleaned from the largest ongoing decontamination operation ever conducted.

Novel and Highly Efficient Methodology for the Destruction of Organophosphorous CWA - Alex Neverov, Queen’s University
There is an increasing demand for new more efficient ways of decontamination and cleanup of accidental or malicious releases of organophosphorous (OP) materials, particularly in the light of rising terrorist threats. Here we report a novel and very efficient way to destroy activated OP agents using metal ion catalysis in organic media. We have investigated the variety of catalytic systems using various model compounds, in order to determine the most potent and robust catalyst suitable for live agent studies. Live agent testing in liquid solution (1:50 challenge) have shown that GA, GD and VX are rapidly destroyed by the decontamination solution. NMR and GC-MS analysis demonstrated all three tested nerve agents were fully decomposed within 30 sec. The non-toxic O-methylation degradation products were identified with GA and GD and it was shown that the toxic degradation product of VX, EA2192, had not been formed. The system was also able to decontaminate nerve agents on CARC panels (10 g/m2) with an efficiency of > 99 % and in most cases > 99.9% (reaction time 10 min). Possible applications such as "decontaminating wipes", protective films and fabrics are described.

MicroSilver as an Antimicrobial - Karl Richter, RFH Bio Tek Inc.
MicroSilver is a highly effective and long lasting antimicrobial that is used in textiles, medical devices, wound care, dermatological skincare, oral care products, polymers and paints & coatings. MicroSilver is a pure (>99.9%) elemental silver powder additive consisting of highly porous, micro-sized particles of pure silver. MicroSilver is produced in Germany in a complex physical manufacturing process with no other chemicals and under ISO 9001 & ISO 13485 (medical device) manufacturing standards. Highly porous micro-particles combine: (1) a very high surface area resulting in excellent efficacy at low concentrations with (2) a micro-sized particle that is safe for both the environment and humans.

Functional Protein-enabled Inorganic/Organic Coatings - Kenneth H. Sandhage, Georgia Institute of Technology
Protamine, an inexpensive protein harvested from fish (e.g., salmon, herring, trout, tuna), is capable of binding to a number of inorganic or organic templates, and of inducing the formation of oxides (e.g., silica, titania) from water-soluble precursors at room temperature. Continuous and conformal protamine/oxide coatings have been deposited onto biogenic and synthetic templates via alternating exposure to protamine-bearing and oxide-precursor-bearing solutions. Such layer-by-layer deposition allows for coatings with well-controlled thicknesses ranging from a few tens of nanometers to 1 micron or more. Furthermore, because protamine becomes intimately mixed with the oxide in the coating, the binding of other organic (or bio-organic) molecules to protamine can allow for the syntheses of organic/inorganic coatings with a variety of functionalities. The development of such a protamine-enabled conformal layer-by-layer deposition process will be discussed, along with some examples of applications for such coatings.