52
N. Vigneshwaran and A. Arputharaj
the consumption of the traditional chemicals can be reduced by using flame retardant
nanoparticles.
FRs made with naturally occurring clay called montmorillonite (MMT) are poised
to have a huge influence on future fire safety due to their great potential for being
applied to many different fields in textile industry. Chang et al. used continuous layer
by layer deposition process to apply 50 bilayers of flame-retardant clay nanoparticles
using a modified pad-steam unit. They found that FR properties of coated fabric was
significantly greater than the uncoated fabrics [39].
6 Superhydrophobic Finish
Superhydrophobic finish of textile materials, also called as lotus effect, is carried out
by imparting roughness on the surface in combination with hydrophobicity. The water
contact angle above 150° is generally accepted as a superhydrophobic finished surface. While the nanomaterials could be used to impart roughness on the surface, the
hydrophobic chemistry is required to make it to superhydrophobicity. By sol-gel process, superhydrophobic cotton fabrics was demonstrated using silica nanoparticles
and perfluorooctylated quaternary ammonium silane coupling agent [40]. Another
work reported the formation of superhydrophobic nature by electrostatic layer-bylayer assembly of polyelectrolyte/silica nanoparticle multilayers on cotton fibers,
followed with a fluoroalkylsilane treatment [41]. In this case, the hydrophobicity
was tailored by controlling the number of layers used for the assembly. For imparting durability to the finish, a robust and self-healing superhydrophobic cotton fabric
was fabricated by facile dip coating and UV curing [42]. The fabrics were dip-coated
with tri-functionality vinyl perfluorodecanol, vinyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane
and octavinyl-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane followed by UV curing. These
obtained cotton fabrics exhibited superior resistance to various liquid pollutants, and
had excellent resistance to the acid and alkali liquid. Furthermore, they were durable
to withstand 10,000 cycles of abrasion, 120 h of accelerated weathering test and
heating or freezing test. Thus, the superhydrophobic treatment helps in self-cleaning
also, wherein the dust particles/pollutants are not allowed to settle on the surface of
the finished fabrics.
7 Electronics Textiles
Electronic textiles (E-textiles) represent the textile materials having the electronic
components impregnated or interwoven in them. Though synthetic textile materials
have a lead in the e-textiles, cotton textiles are also being considered in diversified applications due to their comfort and eco-friendliness. Electro-conductive cotton textiles are under development using simple dip-coating process for depositing
functionalized carbon nanotubes [43] to develop a flexible electro thermal heating
N. Vigneshwaran and A. Arputharaj
the consumption of the traditional chemicals can be reduced by using flame retardant
nanoparticles.
FRs made with naturally occurring clay called montmorillonite (MMT) are poised
to have a huge influence on future fire safety due to their great potential for being
applied to many different fields in textile industry. Chang et al. used continuous layer
by layer deposition process to apply 50 bilayers of flame-retardant clay nanoparticles
using a modified pad-steam unit. They found that FR properties of coated fabric was
significantly greater than the uncoated fabrics [39].
6 Superhydrophobic Finish
Superhydrophobic finish of textile materials, also called as lotus effect, is carried out
by imparting roughness on the surface in combination with hydrophobicity. The water
contact angle above 150° is generally accepted as a superhydrophobic finished surface. While the nanomaterials could be used to impart roughness on the surface, the
hydrophobic chemistry is required to make it to superhydrophobicity. By sol-gel process, superhydrophobic cotton fabrics was demonstrated using silica nanoparticles
and perfluorooctylated quaternary ammonium silane coupling agent [40]. Another
work reported the formation of superhydrophobic nature by electrostatic layer-bylayer assembly of polyelectrolyte/silica nanoparticle multilayers on cotton fibers,
followed with a fluoroalkylsilane treatment [41]. In this case, the hydrophobicity
was tailored by controlling the number of layers used for the assembly. For imparting durability to the finish, a robust and self-healing superhydrophobic cotton fabric
was fabricated by facile dip coating and UV curing [42]. The fabrics were dip-coated
with tri-functionality vinyl perfluorodecanol, vinyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane
and octavinyl-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane followed by UV curing. These
obtained cotton fabrics exhibited superior resistance to various liquid pollutants, and
had excellent resistance to the acid and alkali liquid. Furthermore, they were durable
to withstand 10,000 cycles of abrasion, 120 h of accelerated weathering test and
heating or freezing test. Thus, the superhydrophobic treatment helps in self-cleaning
also, wherein the dust particles/pollutants are not allowed to settle on the surface of
the finished fabrics.
7 Electronics Textiles
Electronic textiles (E-textiles) represent the textile materials having the electronic
components impregnated or interwoven in them. Though synthetic textile materials
have a lead in the e-textiles, cotton textiles are also being considered in diversified applications due to their comfort and eco-friendliness. Electro-conductive cotton textiles are under development using simple dip-coating process for depositing
functionalized carbon nanotubes [43] to develop a flexible electro thermal heating