Smart Textile Coatings and Laminates

William C Smith

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN: 9781845697785
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Materials Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Smart coatings can produce coatings that offer above and beyond the normal functions of a coating, these range from improving the performance of fabrics, producing new forms of materials to providing decoration. This book reviews a variety of topics about textile coatings and laminates and aims to provide a stimulus for developing new and improved textile products.The first part of the book introduces the fundamentals of textile coatings and laminates, addressing general areas such as coating and laminating processes and techniques, as well as base fabrics and their interaction in coated fabrics. Part two discusses different types of smart and intelligent coatings and laminates for textiles. Topics include microencapsulation technology, conductive coatings, breathable coatings and phase change materials and their application in textiles.With its highly distinguished editor and array of international contributors, Smart textile coatings and laminates is a valuable reference book for chemists, textile technologists, fibre scientists, textile engineers and all those wishing to improve and understand the developments in textile coating and laminating technology. It will also be suitable for researchers in industry or academia. - Reviews a number of issues surrounding textile coatings and laminates - Discusses the fundamentals of textile coatings and laminates addressing processes and techniques - Examines types of smart and intelligent coatings and laminates for textiles, including microencapsulation technology, conductive and breathable coatings

Part I

Fundamentals of textile coatings and laminates

1

Overview of textile coating and lamination

W.C. Smith, Industrial Textile Associates USA

Abstract:

Coating and laminating (C/L) of fabrics and textiles in all forms are techniques and finishes used in virtually every segment of industry and our lives. Most C/L fabrics are passive, providing a specific function or aesthetic value. By applying some of the latest technology, materials have become ‘smart’ or ‘intelligent’, with finishes that also allow materials to react to outside stimuli to do such things as conduct electricity, change color, warm/cool, give off chemicals or medicines, or perform some other special function. Such materials promise a bright future for the global C/L industry.

Key words

coated fabrics

smart/intelligent textiles

C/L applications

C/L growth issues

C/L techniques

C/L definitions

1.1 Introduction

This is a book of potential, a book of ‘what is to come’, a book to stimulate your thinking. The chapters in this book present some basics of what is involved in smart/intelligent coatings and laminates, but more often you will find technical information on developments and research in coating/laminating and fabric technology, provided to stimulate ideas of what can be done. New ideas and new products are being developed rapidly; research is ongoing, many products are being developed with special properties allowing them to ‘do something’ rather than just look good or have good physical properties.

When people first found out they could smear animal grease onto a skin or grass-cloth and make it more waterproof, the coated fabrics industry was born. Later, we find other materials such as natural latex were used, beginning a never-ending search for better products and performance. We have been putting something on fabrics ever since to look nice, repel water or other liquids, protect from chemicals and heat/fire, to hold gases, and a huge variety of other applications and reasons. Coating and laminating have evolved substantially into a multi-billion dollar industry (actually industries), using coatings and laminates to improve the performance of fabrics, to make new forms of materials possible/practical, to provide aesthetics and/or decorate materials, providing working surfaces, or to replace other types of materials (i.e. leather). Some products are luxurious, some as ‘working’ materials or of a highly technical nature, many components of other products, machines, equipment, or systems. Coated and laminated fabrics touch virtually every segment of our lives, quite frequently not seen, are taken for granted and not given much thought.

When that early man first used the animal grease for waterproofing, it was, in that context, a ‘smart’ or ‘intelligent’ product – it ‘did something’, it improved a material, giving it new properties and greater utility. It was ‘high tech’ in that day, it was a major development. The ‘high tech’ item of yesterday, that miracle product that made new things possible, are now normal, everyday parts of our lives. Think of the beginning of the synthetic fibers era in the early twentieth century – nylon was truly a high performance, miracle fiber – today it is ‘just another fiber’. Likewise for polyester – scorned for so many reasons, but the most widely used of all synthetic fibers. Many coated or laminated fabrics were, likewise, considered high tech when they were introduced, even smart/intelligent in what they permitted. Like the miracle fibers, they are now routine.

As the industry evolved, people discovered new fibers, elastomers and other materials, and techniques, and developed new applications not previously dreamed of (think computers and space travel) – and effectively applied coated and laminated fabrics to help solve problems and make some applications possible and others cost effective. Coatings have continued to evolve. While they may have been ‘smart’ in the context in which they were developed – fabrics with fluoropolymer coatings/laminates that breathe, allow passage of water vapor from the body, while keeping out larger water molecules, for instance – most coated and laminated fabrics seem relatively passive.

The definition of ‘smart’ or ‘intelligent’ keeps shifting; we expect even more special (‘smart/intelligent’) properties, properties that allow the material to ‘do something’ unique in order to qualify as smart/intelligent. From keeping out water or chemicals, or providing a working surface/material, or imitating leather, we now have materials that provide outstanding and extreme temperature ranges, important in space projects and fire service. We have body-friendly, biocompatible coatings useful in medical applications, including implants and patches that emit medicines in measured doses. Coated fabrics provide protection from a wide variety of heat and/or chemical hazards and exposures, many life-threatening. We use coated fabrics in solar panels to generate electricity, and in filters to make fresh water from brackish or seawater. We have coated fabrics that react to heat/cold to regulate temperature to keep one warm or cooler; fabrics may emit controlled amounts of substances such as medicines, aromas, insecticides, pesticides, products that provide antibacterial/antimicrobial functions; fabrics that change colors as possible indicators of something needing attention, they may become electrically conductive, selectively or continuously, or ‘do something’ in response to outside stimuli. In that context, coated/laminated fabrics have indeed become smart and/or intelligent. With evolving technologies, such as nanotechnology and electrospinning (those and many others are covered in the book), we can build new and even more extreme properties into more effective products. often with superior cost and performance benefits. The list increases year after year.

1.2 Industry basics

While many of the chapters will go into greater detail about various finishes, polymers, and coating and laminating techniques, it may be good to begin by providing a few of the basics as we start our look into potential for smart/intelligent coating and laminates.

To be sure, coating and laminating of textiles are textile finishing processes designed to add or improve function, to add value to a material, and/or to create a material with specific properties. In essence, anytime you add something to a fabric to aid performance, such as a nanotechnology-based finish that impregnates the fibers of the fabric, you are creating a coated fabric. T...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributor contact details
• Woodhead Publishing Series in Textiles
• Part I: Fundamentals of textile coatings and laminates
• Part II: Smart and intelligent coatings and laminates for textiles
• Index