Chapters authored
Smart Textiles Testing: A Roadmap to Standardized Test Methods for Safety and Quality-Control
Test methods for smart or electronic textiles (e-textiles) are critical to ensure product safety and industrial quality control. This paper starts with a review of three key aspects: (i) commercial e-textile products/technologies, (ii) safety and quality control issues observed or foreseen, and (iii) relevant standards published or in preparation worldwide. A total of twenty-two standards on smart textiles – by CEN TC 248/WG 31, IEC TC 124, ASTM D13.50, and AATCC RA111 technical committees – were identified; they cover five categories of e-textile applications: electrical, thermal, mechanical, optical, and physical environment. Based on the number of e-textile products currently commercially available and issues in terms of safety, efficiency, and durability, there is a critical need for test methods for thermal applications, as well as to a lesser degree, for energy harvesting and chemical and biological applications. The results of this study can be used as a roadmap for the development of new standardized test methods for safety & quality control of smart textiles.
Part of the book: Textiles for Functional Applications
Antimicrobial Agents for Textiles: Types, Mechanisms and Analysis Standards
The large surface area, and ability to retain moisture of textile structures enable microorganisms’ growth, which causes a range of undesirable effects, not only on the textile itself, but also on the user. Moreover, textiles used in health care environments are required to possess antimicrobial property to minimize spread of pathogenic infection. Anti-microbial property can be imparted via chemical finishing with an antimicrobial agent. Currently the use of antimicrobial agents includes metal compounds (notably copper and silver particle), chitosan, halogenated phenols “triclosan”, quaternary ammonium compounds, antibiotics (a class of antimicrobials produced from microorganisms that act against one another), and N-halamines. The possibility of bacterial resistance limits antibiotic use to specific medical applications, and triclosan is known for being dangerous to the environment and is currently under scrutiny for possible endocrine disrupting to human being. Although quaternary ammonium compounds are stable and easily manufactured, microbial resistance is also a concern. Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), Polyhexamethylene Biguanide (PHMB), chitosan and N-halamines are listed under bound or non-leaching type antimicrobials. The bulk of current chapter focuses on the different family of antimicrobial agents used for textiles and their mechanisms.
Part of the book: Textiles for Functional Applications