WO2022164714A2 - Textiles de polyéthylène ayant des caractéristiques modifiées qui assurent un refroidissement passif et fabrication associée - Google Patents

Textiles de polyéthylène ayant des caractéristiques modifiées qui assurent un refroidissement passif et fabrication associée Download PDF

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WO2022164714A2
WO2022164714A2 PCT/US2022/013202 US2022013202W WO2022164714A2 WO 2022164714 A2 WO2022164714 A2 WO 2022164714A2 US 2022013202 W US2022013202 W US 2022013202W WO 2022164714 A2 WO2022164714 A2 WO 2022164714A2
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Prior art keywords
fabric
polyethylene
continuous fibers
fibers
yams
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PCT/US2022/013202
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English (en)
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WO2022164714A3 (fr
Inventor
Svetlana V. Boriskina
Luis Marcelo LOZANO SANCHEZ
Matteo ALBERGHINI
Gang Chen
Original Assignee
Boriskina Svetlana V
Lozano Sanchez Luis Marcelo
Alberghini Matteo
Gang Chen
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Application filed by Boriskina Svetlana V, Lozano Sanchez Luis Marcelo, Alberghini Matteo, Gang Chen filed Critical Boriskina Svetlana V
Priority to US18/260,929 priority Critical patent/US20240093424A1/en
Publication of WO2022164714A2 publication Critical patent/WO2022164714A2/fr
Publication of WO2022164714A3 publication Critical patent/WO2022164714A3/fr

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    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06M—TREATMENT, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE IN CLASS D06, OF FIBRES, THREADS, YARNS, FABRICS, FEATHERS OR FIBROUS GOODS MADE FROM SUCH MATERIALS
    • D06M10/00—Physical treatment of fibres, threads, yarns, fabrics, or fibrous goods made from such materials, e.g. ultrasonic, corona discharge, irradiation, electric currents, or magnetic fields; Physical treatment combined with treatment with chemical compounds or elements
    • D06M10/02—Physical treatment of fibres, threads, yarns, fabrics, or fibrous goods made from such materials, e.g. ultrasonic, corona discharge, irradiation, electric currents, or magnetic fields; Physical treatment combined with treatment with chemical compounds or elements ultrasonic or sonic; Corona discharge
    • D06M10/025—Corona discharge or low temperature plasma
    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06M—TREATMENT, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE IN CLASS D06, OF FIBRES, THREADS, YARNS, FABRICS, FEATHERS OR FIBROUS GOODS MADE FROM SUCH MATERIALS
    • D06M10/00—Physical treatment of fibres, threads, yarns, fabrics, or fibrous goods made from such materials, e.g. ultrasonic, corona discharge, irradiation, electric currents, or magnetic fields; Physical treatment combined with treatment with chemical compounds or elements
    • D06M10/001—Treatment with visible light, infrared or ultraviolet, X-rays
    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06M—TREATMENT, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE IN CLASS D06, OF FIBRES, THREADS, YARNS, FABRICS, FEATHERS OR FIBROUS GOODS MADE FROM SUCH MATERIALS
    • D06M2101/00—Chemical constitution of the fibres, threads, yarns, fabrics or fibrous goods made from such materials, to be treated
    • D06M2101/16—Synthetic fibres, other than mineral fibres
    • D06M2101/18—Synthetic fibres consisting of macromolecular compounds obtained by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
    • D06M2101/20—Polyalkenes, polymers or copolymers of compounds with alkenyl groups bonded to aromatic groups
    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06M—TREATMENT, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE IN CLASS D06, OF FIBRES, THREADS, YARNS, FABRICS, FEATHERS OR FIBROUS GOODS MADE FROM SUCH MATERIALS
    • D06M2200/00—Functionality of the treatment composition and/or properties imparted to the textile material
    • D06M2200/10—Repellency against liquids

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to polyethylene textiles, and more particularly relates to engineering polyethylene textiles to utilize various techniques for moisture transport that results in passive cooling.
  • the textile industry is a global commercial enterprise, producing about 62 million tons of fabrics each year. It is also one of the most polluting industries on earth, second only to oil and gas, consuming massive amounts of water, and generating millions of tons of textile waste.
  • the textile industry is responsible for approximately in the range of about five (5) percent to about ten (10) percent of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. Textile maintenance while being used often consumes even more energy and water than when it is produced and presents unique challenges in off-grid locations and/or in situations in which frequent washing, drying, and/or re-using of fabrics are needed.
  • colored or blended textiles complicate waste-sorting with near-infrared scanners, and most textiles end up in landfills and/or burned.
  • PE polyethylene
  • the textile industry has long made use of natural fibers such as wool, cotton, silk, and linen, until the last century has witnessed rapid adoption of synthetic materials, including polyester, acrylic, and nylon.
  • synthetic materials including polyester, acrylic, and nylon.
  • PE polyethylene
  • PE has been largely overlooked as a high-performance material for wearable textile production.
  • the recent emergence of PE as a promising polymer for wearable textiles can be attributed to its high infrared transparency and tuneable visible opacity, which allows the human body to cool via thermal radiation, potentially saving energy on building refrigeration.
  • Non-woven polyethylene materials are used for lab wear and protective apparel, but they do not provide functionalities expected from everyday clothes or bedding textiles.
  • Ultrahigh molecular weight (UHMWPE) fibers are very strong yet prohibitively expensive for everyday textile applications, finding use in bullet-proof vests, ropes, and fishing nets.
  • PE is one of the most-produced materials in the world, and is fully recyclable, either mechanically via a melt-extrusion process or chemically via solvent dissolution and pyrolysis, most of PE waste is incinerated. This is at least because it is not usually economically viable to recycle it in the form of low-cost plastic bags and films.
  • fabrics and textiles are manufactured and used for their environmental protection, but have the unpleasant characteristic of forming a microenvironment that accumulates dirt and serves as a breeding ground for a variety of harmful microorganisms.
  • a typical approach to addressing these issues relies on fabrics modification via addition of antimicrobial agents in the fibers or via their grafting onto the textile/fiber surface.
  • the commonly used antimicrobial agents include quaternary ammonium compounds, triclosan, metal salts, and polybiguanides.
  • quaternary ammonium compounds include quaternary ammonium compounds, triclosan, metal salts, and polybiguanides.
  • the presence of similar antimicrobial agents in many products available increases the risk of negative effects associated with microorganisms developing resistance to these agents. For example, the rise of multi-drug-resistant bacteria species is increasing at an alarming rate, with over-use of triclosan in non-healthcare environments considered as one of the major causes of this process.
  • the present application is directed to production of polyethylene textiles that are optimized to increase moisture wicking and overall performance thereof. Optimization of the textiles is a result of modifications (i.e., engineering) made to the polyethylene materials from which the textiles are manufactured to increase a hydrophilicity thereof.
  • modifications i.e., engineering
  • the surface of the polyethylene fibers are slightly modified to induce oxidation of the surface.
  • oxidation can be performed by oxygen plasma treatment, or the like, which can increase affinity of the fibers to moisture.
  • the fibers can be bundled to form yams that are woven, knit, spun, and/or otherwise associated to form fabrics.
  • further modifications to the fibers can increase a capillary force of the bundle, thereby further increasing hydrophilicity and moisture wicking of the resulting fabric.
  • Capillary force modifications can be performed by optimizing one or more of a fiber size, a density, and/or a cross-section of the bundle, among other features.
  • fibers can be arranged in parallel during weaving of the fabric to promote hydrophilicity and moisture transport therethrough.
  • One exemplary embodiment of a hydrophilic fabric includes at least one of multifilament yams that comprise polyethylene or continuous fibers that comprise polyethylene.
  • the at least one of multi-filament yams that comprise polyethylene or continuous fibers that comprise polyethylene are at least one of spun, woven, or knitted together to form the fabric.
  • the at least one of the multi-filament yams that comprise polyethylene or the continuous fibers that comprise polyethylene have a modified surface that causes the respective yams and/or fibers to be at least partially-hydrophilic, with the continuous fibers being aligned substantially in parallel with respect to each other.
  • the fabric is devoid of nonpolyethylene yams and non-poly ethylene fibers that mechanically reinforce the fabric.
  • the modified surface can include at least one of a changed fiber size, a changed fiber density, or a changed cross-section of the at least one of multi-filament yams that comprise polyethylene or continuous fibers that comprise polyethylene.
  • the at least one of multi-filament yams that comprise polyethylene or continuous fibers that comprise polyethylene can include a pattern arrangement of such yams and/or fibers, the arrangement having a regular triangular arrangement and/or a square arrangement.
  • an exposed surface of the fabric is hydrophilic and a portion of the fabric below the exposed surface is hydrophobic.
  • the fabric can be devoid of a coating disposed on the multi-filament yams that comprise polyethylene and/or the continuous fibers that comprise polyethylene to make the polyethylene more hydrophilic.
  • the fabric can have a thickness approximately in the range of about 300 microns to about 1000 microns, and a thermal conductivity of the continuous fibers that comprise the fabric can be approximately in the range of about 0.1 Watts per meter Kelvin to about 60 Watts per meter Kelvin.
  • the polyethylene can include at least one of low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, medium-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, low molecular weight polyethylene, and/or ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene.
  • a fiber crystallinity of the fabric can be approximately in the range of about 50% to about 100%.
  • the fabric can have a thickness approximately in the range of about 300 microns to about 1000 microns.
  • a density of the multi-filament yams that comprise polyethylene and/or the continuous fibers that comprise polyethylene can be optimized. At least one of a yam of the multi-filament yams or a fiber of the continuous fibers can have a diameter approximately in the range of about 1 micron to about 150 microns.
  • the fibers can include at least one of a single type of polyethylene or a blend of more than one type of polyethylene.
  • a water-fiber contact angle of the hydrophilic fabric can be approximately in the range of about 50 degrees to about 80 degrees.
  • One exemplary method of manufacturing a fabric includes extruding one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene, modifying a surface energy of the one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene to change a hydrophilicity of the fibers, and bundling the one or more continuous fibers to form a plurality of yams. Further, the method includes one or more of spinning, weaving, or knitting one or more yams of the plurality of yams with another yam of the plurality of yams to form the fabric.
  • modifying a surface energy of the one or more continuous fibers can increase the hydrophilicity of the fibers without either applying a coating to the fibers or reinforcing the fabric with at least one of non-poly ethylene yams or nonpolyethylene fibers.
  • modifying a surface energy of the one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene can further include at least partially oxidizing a surface of the one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene.
  • bundling the one or more continuous fibers can include arranging the one or more continuous fibers substantially in parallel to optimize capillary action through the plurality of yams.
  • Modifying a surface energy of the one or more continuous fibers can include adjusting at least one of one or more of a fiber size, a density, and/or a cross-section of the one or more continuous fibers or one or more of a size, a density, or a cross section of the bundled one or more continuous fibers.
  • the one or more continuous fibers can include at least one of low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, and/or ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene.
  • the method can further include adjusting at least one of a weight fraction, a size, and/or a drawing ratio of at least one of the one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene.
  • the method can further include optimizing a chain orientation and crystallinity of the one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene. Optimizing the chain orientation and crystallinity of the one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene can include post-treating the one or more initially extruded continuous fibers comprising polyethylene.
  • the method can further include coloring the one or more continuous fibers by at least one of dry-coloring or spin-dying the one or more continuous fibers with one or more of an organic colorant or an inorganic colorant.
  • the method can further include restoring hydrophilicity to the fabric by exposing the surface of the one or more continuous fibers to one or more of an oxygen plasma treatment, ultraviolet radiation, and/or friction.
  • FIG. 1 A is a structure of a polyethylene molecule that can be used in the textile industry for the manufacture of clothing and other wearable items;
  • FIG. IB is a structure of a polyester molecule that can be used in the textile industry for the manufacture of clothing and other wearable items;
  • FIG. 1C is a structure of a cotton molecule that can be used in the textile industry for the manufacture of clothing and other wearable items;
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic of a lifecycle of fabrics illustrating comparative environmental burdens of each step
  • FIG. 3A is a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of an exemplary embodiment of a woven PE fabric of the present embodiments
  • FIG. 3B is an SEM image of an exemplary embodiment of a multi-filament PE yam used in the fabric of FIG. 3 A;
  • FIG. 3C is an SEM image of an exemplary embodiment of an individual PE fiber filament used in the yam of FIG. 3B;
  • FIG. 4A is an image of a knitted PE fabric showing the fabric structure
  • FIG. 4B is an image of another knitted PE fabric showing the fabric structure
  • FIG. 4C is an image of another knitted PE fabric showing the fabric structure
  • FIG. 4D is an image of a woven fabric showing the fabric structure
  • FIG. 4E is an image of a cotton sample as a standard reference material to the structures of FIGS. 4A-4D;
  • FIG. 5 is a series of bar graphs illustrating through-fabric thermal conductivity of PE textiles compared to those of a non-woven commercial PE textile (Tyvek, DuPont) and woven textiles made of conventional natural (cotton) and synthetic (polyester) fibers;
  • FIG. 6 is a photograph showing samples of polyester, linen, cotton, and woven PE stained by a commercial food colorant and subsequently rinsed under running cold tap water without the use of soap or any chemicals;
  • FIG. 7 is a cross-section of exemplary fabric having a thickness of approximately 820 micron, a weight (mass per unit area) of about 0.05 g/cm 2 , total yam denier of 994 (double-plied 497 denier yam), a fiber crystallinity of about 52% and orientation factor of about 0.26, and 16 wales and 22 courses per square inch (352 stitches per square inch).
  • the present disclosure generally relates to textiles that are optimized to maximize moisture wi eking and evaporative performance thereof.
  • engineering modifications to the structure of polyethylene (PE) which is a cheap, abundant, and lightweight material, can produce a fabric that is superior to conventional materials such as nylon, polyester, and so forth.
  • the modification of the structure of the PE can provide a fabric having a high level of personal comfort, is fully recyclable, offers stain and dirt resistance, and/or has high potential for anti-microbial protection without use of toxic nanoagents.
  • the textile(s) can include a plurality of yams that are spun, weaved, and/or are otherwise associated to form a fabric.
  • Each yam can be made of a plurality of fibers that can be bundled together to form the overall structure of the yam.
  • a surface of the fibers can be modified, for example by oxidation, to increase hydrophilicity of the surface of the fibers.
  • the fiber can be bundled and/or further engineered to increase a capillary force of the bundle, thereby further increasing hydrophilicity of the resulting fabric.
  • Engineering of the capillary force can be performed by optimizing one or more of a fiber size, a density, and/or a cross-section of the bundle, among other features.
  • coloring can be added to the fabric to modify the color of the fabric.
  • the resultant fabric can exhibit a strong weight reduction, stain resistance, and/or drying capabilities.
  • the fabrics of the present embodiments can be manufactured via standard industrial processes known to persons skilled in the art, with adjustments to such processes being able to be made by the skilled person based on the disclosures provided for herein.
  • standard industrial processes include spinning, twisting, plying, knitting, weaving, extmding, spin-dyeing, and/or employing techniques such as thermal treatment based on heating-cooling processes, plasma treatment, and/or ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation, and so forth.
  • PE fabrics can utilize the human body’s innate ability to thermally radiate heat as a cooling mechanism during the summer season when environmental temperatures are high.
  • thermal radiation transport from some areas of the human body not directly exposed to the environment is severely hindered.
  • the presently disclosed fabrics can allow heat to pass through the fabric rather than trap the heat therein. That is, the fabrics of the present embodiments can provide for cooling the human body and re-distributing the heat more uniformly between areas that are exposed to the environment and those that are hidden from the environment.
  • the fabrics of the present disclosure optimize a number of cooling factors, including but not limited to conduction, convection, evaporation, and/or radiation.
  • the present disclosure allows for the optimization of these factors to help manage performance, as opposed to previous disclosures in the art, which typically optimized primarily for strength. More particularly, the techniques disclosed herein including using heat conduction in conjunction with heat convection for cooling and heat redistribution.
  • the total amount of heat transferred from the skin into and through the fabric material as it touches the skin quantifies the efficiency of the passive fabric cooling by conduction, and also defines the sensory thermal feeling of a fabric as it touches the human skin — i.e., warm-cool touch feeling of the fabric.
  • the fabrics and textiles of the present embodiments can be thicker than would be expected, which can be beneficial at least because the heat can travel through the material via thermal conduction to be subsequently removed from the large surface area of the porous textile by convection.
  • These thick materials can also provide cooling features due, at least in part, to the way the fibers and/or yams are formed.
  • the fibers, yams, and/or textiles can include PE that is spun, knitted, and/or weaved in a manner that allows the fibers and/or yams to wick away moisture.
  • the result is silky, lightweight fabrics and textiles that absorb and evaporate fluids (e.g, water) more quickly than common fabrics textiles such as cotton, nylon, or polyester.
  • FIGS. 1 A-1C illustrate exemplary structures of polyethylene as compared to common fabric textiles used in the textile industry for the manufacture of clothing and other wearable items.
  • the PE molecule is simple as compared to other organic polymer molecules commonly used for fabrics production.
  • a molecule of PE has a backbone of carbon atoms, each having two hydrogen atoms covalently attached thereto.
  • the carbon-hydrogen bond is repeated throughout the structure of the molecule to form a Teflon-like architecture that resists water and other molecules.
  • the lack of ionic bonds or polar groups in the PE structure prevents other molecules from permanently attaching to the surfaces of PE fibers and textiles.
  • Polyethylene internal properties can be varied by engineering, for example, the polymer chain length and branching, as well as by the optimization and/or control of material crystallinity and molecular chain orientation.
  • FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic of the lifecycle of fabrics 10, and the corresponding estimate of the environmental burden of each step.
  • fabric lifecycles can undergo three phases: a production phase 12, a use phase 14, and an end of life phase 16.
  • PE fabrics exhibit ultralight weight, low material cost, low processing temperatures, as well as recyclability, thereby predicting low environmental footprint of PE fabrics in the production phase.
  • the fabric can be manufactured by integration of a raw material stage with spinning and/or weaving said raw material, and adding coloring, for instance via a spin-dyeing (also known as solution-dyeing or spindoping) process, as desired.
  • spin-dyeing also known as solution-dyeing or spindoping
  • the environmental footprint for manufacturing each of the PE materials at each of the stages of the production phase is superior to that of conventional materials such as cotton, wool, nylon, and polyester.
  • conventional materials such as cotton, wool, nylon, and polyester.
  • PE provides for much better sustainability, and thus less environmental impact, as a result of the raw materials used and a more sustainable coloration process.
  • the environmental footprint reduction is achieved through lower manufacturing temperatures and fewer chemicals used in production. Comparatively, as illustrated in FIG. 2, PE produces a smaller environmental impact in the raw material stage, thereby contributing to its superiority for textile manufacturing.
  • PE produces little to no environmental impact in the raw material stage, thereby contributing to its superiority for textile manufacturing.
  • MSI presented in FIG. 2 represents the environmental footprint of one kilogram of polyethylene woven fabric as compared to the same amounts of conventional woven textiles, a person skilled in the art will recognize that these comparisons increase and/or decrease proportionately with weight of fabrics being compared.
  • the fabric can enter the use phase 14.
  • the fabric In the use phase, the fabric is shipped, washed, dried, worn, and put under additional stresses commonly known to fabrics.
  • PE demonstrates superior weight reduction, stain resistance, and drying capability when compared to conventional materials, as discussed in greater detail below.
  • the fabric can enter the end of life phase 16 at which point it is disposed. While standard PE is shown as being comparable to polyester and exceeding each of cotton, wool, and nylon according to the Recyclability Environmental Gain Index (REGI), modifications made to the fabric during the production phase 12, e.g, spinning, weaving, and so forth, can further enhance the recyclability of the PE fabric to be superior to that of the conventional textile materials having comparable modifications, as also discussed in greater detail below.
  • REGI Recyclability Environmental Gain Index
  • FIGS. 3A-3C illustrate the structure of PE fabrics in more detail.
  • PE can be cast into fiber form and formed into a textile or fabric 100.
  • the fabrics can be formed by using conventional textile industry procedures and equipment.
  • the fabric 100 can be made from a plurality of strands of yam 102 that are engaged or otherwise associated with one another.
  • the yam 102 can be spun, knit, and/or weaved to form the fabric 100. Weaving of the fabric can be performed on an industrial loom or otherwise manufactured by a technique known to one skilled in the art.
  • the yams can be a woven or knitted continuous multi-filament yam that is formed into the fabric in a crisscross or a plain-woven pattern.
  • the yam 102 can be made up of one or more fibers 104.
  • the multi-filament yams can be made from 50 to 300 individual fiber monofilaments 104 with circular cross sections.
  • the fibers 104 can be made from polyethylene or continuous fibers that include polyethylene.
  • materials that make up the fibers can include low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low- density polyethylene (LLDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), medium-density polyethylene (MDPE), low molecular weight polyethylene, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), and/or blends of several PE materials.
  • LDPE low-density polyethylene
  • LLDPE linear low- density polyethylene
  • HDPE high-density polyethylene
  • MDPE medium-density polyethylene
  • UHMWPE ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene
  • the PE used in the embodiments herein can include oil-based virgin fossil-derived PE, bio-derived PE, and/or recycled PE. These forms of PE can reduce the environmental footprint of the textile industry, with recycled and bio-derived material offering further reduction in both energy usage and environmental damage. While all of the fibers can be of a similar construction, in some embodiments one or more of the fibers of a fabric can differ in size (e.g, length, thickness, diameter), weight, shape, and/or material used to formulate the fiber and/or the fabric.
  • FIG. 3C illustrates a fiber filament 104 that makes up the multi-filament yam 102.
  • a common reservation to the use of polyethylene for wearable textiles stems from the inherent PE hydrophobicity, which is expected to prevent perspiration wicking.
  • Engineering modifications to the PE molecule can increase hydrophilicity of the PE, which would increase moisture wicking and evaporative performance of the resulting textile.
  • Engineering PE molecules in this manner was counter-intuitive to the knowledge of the skilled person, at least because of the inherent hydrophobicity of PE.
  • porous non-woven PE textiles achieved water-wicking performance by chemically modifying the PE surface with a hydrophilic agent, such as poly dopamine (PDA), to be hydrophilic (see P.-C. Hsu et al. “Radiative human body cooling by nanoporous polyethylene textile.” Science, Volume 353, pp. 1019-1023, 2016).
  • a hydrophilic agent such as poly dopamine (PDA)
  • PDA poly dopamine
  • Increasing hydrophilicity within the scope of the present disclosure refers to the ability of a material to absorb water and/or to allow water to travel along, through, and/or across a material.
  • Hydrophilicity of a material can be represented as partial hydrophilicity, such that a surface of the material is hydrophilic while a core of the material is not hydrophilic, or even hydrophobic, or vice versa.
  • any change in the ability of the material to absorb water as a result of engineering and/or a modification can be referred to as an increase in hydrophilicity.
  • any increase in the affinity for water exhibited by the material that results in the fiber surface exhibiting a static contact angle with water of less than 90 degrees can represent a modification that has made a material change to the hydrophilicity thereof.
  • one or more of fiber size, fiber arrangement, and/or surface properties can be modified to improve hydrophilicity of the fabric, which can improve the wicking performance of the textile overall.
  • the fiber size and the dense plain-woven pattern of the PE textile can be chosen to optimize the moisture transport and fast-drying performance of the material, and/or to promote comfort feeling and efficient passive cooling via evaporative process.
  • an efficient diffusion of sweat through the textile results in a larger effective area of evaporation than that of bare skin and, thus, in a higher drying rate.
  • a radius of the fibers in the fabric can depend on a target hydrophilicity and/or a target porosity of the fabric being manufactured.
  • the fibers used in the fabric of the present embodiments can be circular.
  • a diameter of a fiber of multi-filament yam, woven, or knitted can be approximately in the range of about 1 microns to about 150 microns.
  • the fiber cross-sectional shape can be textured featuring grooves along the fiber length.
  • the multi-filament yams 102 can be composed of fiber monofilaments 104, as shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C, with radii that are approximately in the range between about 5 pm to about 20 pm.
  • some non-limiting examples of cross-sections of the fiber can be scalloped oval, tetiaskelion, trilobal, multilobal, and/or corrugated circular shapes.
  • a fabric mass unit area of fabric provided for herein can be approximately in the range of about 100 grams per square meter to about 1500 grams per square meter, while in some instances the area can be approximately 350 grams per square meter or larger.
  • a distance between the monofilament fibers 104 comprising each yam can yield average yam porosity approximately in the range of about 45% to about 65%. Lower values, e.g, closer to about 45%, may result in a stiff fabric, while higher values, e.g, closer to about 65%, can produce a fragile and/or transparent textile.
  • a person skilled in the art will recognize that different applications, such as hospital bedding or safety clothing, may require a different or extended range of yam porosity than the non-limiting values suggested.
  • an engineering modification to increase hydrophilicity of the fibers can occur via oxidation during the production phase 12.
  • the PE fabric of the present embodiments can be modified by running a melt-spin fabrication process in air, which can cause polymer thermoforming in the surfaces of the fiber monofilaments 104.
  • Polymer thermoforming can partially oxidize the surface of the material, which can cause the surfaces of the fibers 12 to acquire partially -hydrophilic properties.
  • the increased fiber surface hydrophilicity due to the oxidation can remain stable over multiple wetting cycles of the fiber 104.
  • polymer thermoforming can form initiation sites for future oxidation in the presence of oxygen even at ambient temperatures. For example, in some instances future oxidation can persists for days, though in some embodiments, it can persist for months and/or years. Future oxidation can further increase hydrophilicity of the fibers 104. PE fiber oxidation may be reduced in the process of wetting and air drying, while hydrophilicity can be restored by oxygen plasma treatment, ultraviolet radiation, and/or by friction, e.g, a simple fabric hand-rubbing process.
  • the time of exposure can be tuned to obtain an average waterfiber contact angle in a desired range for optimally-engineered yam and fabric structure.
  • Optimum moisture wicking can be observed in at least some instances for water-fiber contact angles approximately in the range from about 50° to about 80°, though in some embodiments, they can be approximately in the range from about 50° to about 70°. Lower values can reduce the stain-resistant properties of the fabric, while higher values can result in poor wicking performances and hindering the efficient spread and evaporation of sweat.
  • the water-fiber contact angle 6 can be calculated by measuring a ratio between the maximum length and the thickness of droplets deposited on a PE fiber and the fiber radius. To test the water-fiber contact angle 0, fibers can be exracted from yams randomly picked from woven PE fabric samples, and fixed with tape between two glass slides. Water can then be sprayed on the fiber 104 to allow the deposition of droplets on its surface. A confocal microscope coupled to a Raman spectrometer (e.g., Horiba, LabRAM HR Evolution) can be used to photograph the droplets deposited on the fiber, at which point length and thickness measurements can be taken. For example, water-fiber contact angles of PE fibers after oxygen plasma treatment for about 1 minute, about 3 minutes, and about 10 minutes showed a reduction of 6 by about 14%, about 23%, and about 27%, respectively.
  • Raman spectrometer e.g., Horiba, LabRAM HR Evolution
  • the hydrophilicity of the surface of the fibers can be tuned by inclusion of charged or photoactive micro- and nano-particles during the fabrication process.
  • the desired concentration of particles at or close to the surface can be tuned, for example, by optimizing their weight fraction, size, and/or the drawing ratio of the fibers.
  • multivalent salts ions such as Ca2 + , A13 + , and/or Fe2 +
  • charged metal oxides such as ZnO, ZrCh, Ta2Os, NiO, VO2, and/or TiCh
  • ZnO, ZrCh, Ta2Os, NiO, VO2, and/or TiCh can be added to the PE during the fabrication process in a weight fraction varying approximately in the range from about 0.1% to about 5%.
  • a woven fabric with an average porosity varying approximately in the range from about 45% to about 60% and an average contact angle of about 70° can be composed of fibers with an average radius varying approximately in the range of about 6 pm to about 16 pm, while, considering the same porosity range but a contact angle of about 50°, the optimal radius range can vary approximately in the range of about 8 pm to about 20 pm.
  • the average diameter of the PE fibers is approximately (18.5 ⁇ 6.2) pm, and they are arranged in a closely packed yam with an average porosity of approximately (53.0 ⁇ 4.8)%.
  • Increasing the hydrophilicity of the surface of the fiber 104 while the core remains hydrophobic allows the PE fabric to wick moisture efficiently.
  • the presence of a hydrophobic core can avoid sweat absorption and consequent swelling as moisture is absorbed, which can hinder the transport of fluid.
  • water fails to penetrate inside the PE fibers 104, which allows the water to evaporate efficiently from the fiber surface.
  • wicking in natural fibers such as cotton and linen can be hindered by the water absorbed and trapped within the fiber volume, which can reduce the fabric drying rate.
  • hydrophilicity of the fabric 100 can be increased further after oxidation is induced on the surface of the fibers 104.
  • fiber size and density can be engineered to increase a capillary force through the fabric 100.
  • Capillary pressure through the fabric can allow for efficient moisture transport therethrough, for example by allowing the moisture to travel through the material.
  • Capillary pressure can be modified, for example, by optimizing the bundling of individual fibers into an orientation of a yam that permits moisture to be transported readily therethrough.
  • the capillary pressure p c is a function of the yam porosity, the fiber shape and size, and the water-fiber contact angle.
  • capillary pressure can increase when the yam comprises small, hydrophilic and densely packed fibers, yielding larger values of p c . In some embodiments, capillary pressure can increase when the yam comprises small, hydrophilic and densely packed fibers, yielding larger values of h max . Further, in some embodiments, for example, moisture wicking properties of the material can depend, at least in part, on the mutual (e.g, parallel) orientation of the fibers within the fabric 100. Fiber surface corrugation in the direction along the fiber length can further increase the wicking performance of PE yams.
  • hydrophilicity of the fabric 100 of the present embodiments can be increased and/or optimized without adding a hydrophilic coating to the fabric.
  • the modifications to the fabric of the present embodiments is such that the fabric is neither mechanically reinforced by blending with other fibers nor is it chemically treated to add a hydrophilic coating.
  • fabrics of the present disclosure that are devoid of a hydrophilic coating to increase a hydrophilicity thereof can be understood to have been modified via one or more of the modifications disclosed herein to change a property of the material, e.g, polyethylene, itself, rather than adding a foreign substance, layer, or film thereto.
  • These modifications or other engineering of the fabric 100, and the components thereof is distinct from the use of coating to provide any similar hydrophilicity capabilities.
  • the fibers that make up the presently disclosed fabrics 100 can be produced by extrusion as a result of standard melt-spinning or other similar processes in open air or in oxygen-rich atmosphere.
  • PE in raw powder or pellet form can be used in conjunction with standard textile manufacturing equipment to melt and extrude the polyethylene into thin fibers.
  • the extrusion process can slightly oxidize the material, changing the surface energy of the fiber to make the PE weakly hydrophilic, and able to attract water molecules to its surface.
  • Further modification of the PE fibers can be performed, for example, by controlling the diameter, draw ratio, and/or cooling temperature of the resulting fibers and the environmental conditions in the extrusion chamber (e.g, atmosphere, illumination conditions, etc.).
  • a multi-filament extruder can be used to bunch or bundle multiple PE fibers together to make a weavable yam 102.
  • Two or more multifilament yams can be further plied together by using a yam twister, increasing the filament count in the yam and allowing for additional control over the yam density. That is, when dipped in water, water can wedge within the capillaries and travel up the fiber 104 through capillary action until it is wicked through the fabric and evaporated.
  • the surface energy of the bundles can be modified by adjusting one or more of a size, a density, or a cross section of the bundles, as discussed above with respect to individual fibers.
  • Strong capillary action has a direct relationship with moisture wi eking.
  • materials with strong capillary action can cause strong moisture wicking properties.
  • further optimization can occur by post-treating the extruded continuous fibers that include polyethylene.
  • fibers of a certain diameter can be aligned in specific directions through the yam, which can improve the collective wicking ability of the fibers.
  • the monofilament fibers 104 of the yams 102 can be arranged substantially in parallel during the weaving process, e.g, without yam twisting, while being organized in a regular hexagonal or square arrangement to produce superior moisture wicking performance compared to alternate orientations.
  • FIGS. 4A-4E illustrate exemplary embodiments of knit structures 200 of the textiles of the present embodiments in the above-described orientations.
  • the four non-limiting types of fabrics shown in FIGS. 4A-4D were fabricated from LLDPE multi-filament yams, including three knitted samples 210, 220, 230 with different yam and knitting densities, and one woven sample 240.
  • Woven and knitted fabrics comprising multi-filament PE yams 202 fabricated via a melt-spin process or the like of the present disclosure can reduce skin temperature by several degrees relative to conventional fabric 250 (e.g., made of cotton or polyester).
  • the cooling performance of the fabrics 210, 220, 230, 240 can be tuned by engineering aspects of the fiber, including but not limited to the fiber size, linear or branched stmcture of the polymer molecules in the raw material (e.g, such as typical for LLDPE, MDPE, and HDPE resins), molecular orientation (i.e., alignment of the polymer chains within each fiber) and/or crystallinity (both of which can be controlled, for example, by a fiber drawing process), material composition (e.g., LLDPE- HDPE, where HDPE is high density polyethylene, MDPE-HDPE, or HDPE-UHMWPE, where UHMWPE is ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, blending, use of plasticizers, and/or doping with nanomaterials), and/or fabric knitted/woven pattern.
  • LLDPE- HDPE where HDPE is high density polyethylene
  • MDPE-HDPE, or HDPE-UHMWPE where UHMWPE is ultra-high-molecular
  • the fabric of the present embodiments can provide passive thermoregulation via control of heat conduction through the fabric from human skin, followed by heat removal from the outer surface of the fabric via a combination of infrared radiative heat emission and/or air convection.
  • These performance features can all be provided in conjunction with high levels of comfort, breathability, and excellent perspiration wicking functionalities.
  • a Fabric Touch Tester can evaluate the cool touch feeling of the PE fabrics 200, via measurements of the maximum thermal flux passing through the textile, as well as the textile thickness made on the same device. The FTT can allow measurements of the thermal conductivity through the fabric both during the fabric maximum mechanical compression between a cold and a hot plate, and during recovery upon removal of the compressing mechanical force.
  • the measured thermal conductivity of the woven PE textile can be compared to the corresponding values of conventional woven textiles and of a commercial non-woven PE material (e.g., Tyvek), measured on the same FTT tester, as shown in FIG. 5.
  • Woven, and especially knitted PE fabrics, that were measured exhibited higher thermal conductivity values during their compression and recovery as compared to woven cotton and polyester fabrics, and nonwoven PE textile, with experimental uncertainty values larger for the backside measurements due, at least in part, to the higher roughness of the fabrics reverse sides.
  • the fibers comprising both knitted and woven PE textiles in FIG. 5 exhibit thermal conductivity values (on a per-fiber basis, in the direction along the fiber length) of approximately 0.62 Watts per meter Kelvin (W/mK), as measured separately via a steady-state thermal conductivity measurement technique.
  • the thermal conductivity of the fibers comprising PE textiles can be approximately in the range of about 0.5 Watts per meter Kelvin to about 60 Watts per meter Kelvin.
  • thermal conductivity significantly exceed those typical for cotton (approximately in the range of about 0.026 W/mK to about 0.065 W/mK), polyester (approximately 0.16 W/mK), nylon (approximately 0.17 W/mK), and silk (approximately 0.12 W/mK), and can be enhanced, by way of non-limiting example, by increasing the alignment of the PE polymer chains with carbon backbones inside the fiber.
  • the data in FIG. 5 reveals that all yam-based PE fabric samples 210, 220, 230, 240 exhibited higher through-fabric thermal conductivities — more than doubling that of the nonwoven PE textile — and exceeding the thermal conductivities of both natural and synthetic conventional woven fabrics.
  • the cool touch feeling of PE fabrics is also perceivable via touching it with bare hands, allowing for their use as conduction-cooling textiles for bedding, car seats and furniture upholstery, cooling towels, and socks production, among other uses.
  • the high thermal conductivity of PE fibers can be due to the molecular orientation and/or higher crystallinity of polyethylene than that of other textile polymers.
  • the crystallinity of the raw PE powder is typically increased as a result of the fiber melt-drawing process, which at the same time can generate certain preferential orientation of the polymer molecules (or chains) in the drawing direction.
  • the molecular orientation can be further enhanced as the fiber drawing is increased, which can be determined, for example, by the draw ratio (final length/initial length).
  • the degree of the chain alignment can be conventionally characterized by the Hermann orientation function, which can vary approximately in the range between about 0.1 to about 1 (the latter corresponding to the complete alignment of the chains in the fiber direction, which produces the highest thermal conductivity of the fiber).
  • the degree of crystallinity of the PE fiber can be approximately in the range from about 10% to about 100%.
  • the drawing capability of polyethylene can be increased at least twofold when using a plasticizer such as polybutene (PB), reaching draw ratios up to about 200 in polyethylene films and at least over about 100 in PE fibers without breaking or tearing.
  • PB polybutene
  • the fiber material crystallinity can be further enhanced through a treatment using liquid nitrogen after the fiber has been drawn.
  • the crystallinity of drawn PE can be increased after being treated with liquid nitrogen for a few minutes (e g., approximately three minutes), reaching crystallinity values of approximately 90% or higher, starting from draw ratios of about 60.
  • the treatment with liquid nitrogen can correspond to a cooling treatment that promotes the crystallization of the previously disentangled and oriented polymer chains due, at least in part, to the drawing process.
  • the thermal conductivity mentioned above can be mainly associated with the conductivity in one direction, which can be the direction in which the chains are partially oriented due to the drawing process.
  • the conductivity can be enhanced in at least one more direction if the polymer chains create a 3D ordered structure, for example through intermolecular covalent bonds. This can be achieved, for example, through a crosslinking process that in PE can be carried out using high energy radiation, such as gamma rays.
  • species with double bonds in their structure such as polybutadiene (PBdE)
  • PBdE polybutadiene
  • the orientation of polymer chains produced during the drawing process can benefit the crosslinking in an interconnected network at least because the reactive species can be more available to create covalent bonds between polyethylene chains. Otherwise an undrawn chain can be mostly entangled, and reactive species may not have neighboring chains with which to create covalent bonds.
  • Cross-linked polymers can typically be more rigid than a polymer that is not crosslinked. This is at least because the molecules are not generally considered to be “anchored” to each other by created covalent bonds. Such a result would not generally be desirable in the context of textiles. However, in the present context, the crosslinking does not result in such undesirable rigidness. This may be because the fibers of the present disclosure have more desirable length-to-diameter ratios that allow them to be more flexible. Further, by performing the crosslinking process after the fiber is produced, that further minimizes any resulting rigidness.
  • Spin-dyeing of polyethylene fibers can be achieved, for example, with conventional dyes and/or unconventional inorganic nanoparticle colorants.
  • PE yams can be spin-dyed with a variety of organic and/or inorganic colorants, which can be chosen to reduce the potential health risks.
  • Use of spin-dyeing technology can reduce environmental footprint and/or improve the fabrics color fastness to washing, drying, and light exposure.
  • color can be added to the PE fabrics by adding colored particles into the powdered PE before extruding the material into fiber form. In this way particles can be encapsulated within the fibers, successfully importing color to them.
  • the process of adding color to the fibers can be a dry process, which can allow for the melting down and recovering of the particles for reuse at the end of their lifecycle, eliminating the use of harsh chemicals.
  • a dry-coloring process contributes to the small ecological footprint of the PE when it is used to make textiles.
  • the smaller footprint can be attributed at least to the lower melting temperature for PE, which allows heating of the PE to lower levels than other synthetic polymers to make yam.
  • synthesis of raw PE can release less greenhouse gas and waste less heat than synthesis of more conventional textile materials such as polyester or nylon.
  • cotton takes a lot of resources to grow and is often treated with harsh chemicals, which is a major contributing factor to its large ecological footprint.
  • sugar cane can be used as a biomass for PE raw material production, which can result in the negative carbon footprint of bio-derived PE resins.
  • PE fabrics of the present embodiments can offer a high-performance sustainable alternative to conventional textiles that extend beyond radiative cooling.
  • the PE fibers can be dry-colored during fabrication, resulting in large water savings without masking the PE molecular fingerprints scanned during the automated recycling process.
  • the PE fibers can exhibit passive evaporative cooling in addition to passive cooling via either thermal radiation through the textile or a combination of thermal conductance of heat through the textile. This, in turn, can be followed by heat removal via thermal radiation from the textile outer surface and air convection, which can translate into a high level of personal comfort and further HVAC energy savings, among other benefits.
  • stain-resistance and fast-drying functionalities of the PE fabrics can offer significant energy savings in both domestic and industrial use via reduced temperature and/or time of washing and/or tumble-drying cycles. These properties can be achieved without treating PE fabrics with chemicals and without blending PE fibers with other fibers, which compromises the fabric recyclability.
  • PE offers significant reduction of environmental footprint of textiles during the use phase 14.
  • PE provides superior shipping, washing, and drying capabilities over conventional fabrics, while exhibiting superior weight reduction, stain resistance, and drying capabilities. While the lack of ionic bonds or polar groups in PE structure can prevent traditional dying techniques from applying color to the PE fabric, this feature can also inhibit the accumulation of dirt and/or harmful microorganisms, and can simplify washing procedures.
  • the presently disclosed techniques can result in improved stain removal capabilities, including complete stain removal, without the use of hot water, soap, and/or other cleaning chemicals.
  • the resulting textiles thus provide a high potential for use in off-grid locations and disaster zones, as well as in hospitals and other healthcare institutions.
  • the ease of cleaning, high comfort, light weight, wicking, and/or drying functionalities of the material can find use in everyday clothes, headwear, and athletic apparel, as well as in bedding, tents, vehicle covers, food packaging, bandages, gloves, and face masks, among other uses.
  • the fabric of the present embodiment can combine excellent stain resistance with efficient moisture wicking and fast-drying performance. These properties can be maintained during the use phase, for example via exposure to sunlight and/or friction occurring during washing, drying, and wear processes.
  • woven PE fabrics can retain stain resistance typical for pristine PE materials.
  • FIG. 6 illustrates dry samples of woven PE 300 compared to polyester 310, linen 320, and cotton 330 (I). As shown, the samples are stained with a food colorant (II), and the stained samples are then washed by rinsing with cold tap water (III).
  • rinsing of the PE textile 300 can result in complete stain removal, while polyester 310, linen 320, and cotton 330 fabrics remain stained, with the natural fabrics, e.g, linen 320 and cotton 330, exhibiting the most persistent stains.
  • This stain-resistance property of PE can also inhibit accumulation of dirt and microorganisms in PE textiles, and can help to reduce the consumption of energy, time, water, and chemical, e.g., detergent, during the use phase 14.
  • stain resistance of PE fabrics allows for short, low-temperature, and detergent-free washing cycles, which reduces water and energy consumption, while fast drying performance exhibited by PE textiles can be advantageous for reducing the energy consumption and the amount of waste heat generated during a tumble-dry cycle.
  • a breakdown of energy consumption during a lifecycle of a cotton T-shirt shows that over 70% of energy is consumed in the use cycle (mostly for high-temperature washing and tumble-drying).
  • the passive cooling and stain-resistance functionalities of the PE textiles of the present embodiments can be achieved by engineering the structure of polymer fibers, yams, and/or fabrics, without blending PE with other materials or covering its surface with chemical coatings.
  • the colorants can be removed during the recycling process, e.g, via centrifuging or filtering.
  • commercially-available fabrics with evaporative cooling performance are typically composed of two or three layers of different materials, which can complicate or prevent their recycling.
  • the cooling performance of the PE fabrics can be attributed to a combination of several passive cooling mechanisms, including thermal radiation through the fabrics and/or heat conduction from the skin into the fabric, followed by convective and/or radiative heat removal from the textile, as well as the evaporative cooling facilitated by efficient moisture wi eking and fast drying performance of PE textiles.
  • the high thermal conductivity of PE yams can be attributed, at least in part, to the partial alignment of polymer chains during the process of fiber fabrication via melt-spin and/or the drawing process, or the like, which can also increase the material crystallinity.
  • the material crystallinity can be improved by using HDPE-MDPE, LLDPE-HDPE, and/or HDPE-UHMWPE blends (see Table 1 below for the data on some embodiments of the PE fibers), along with the techniques previously described, including an increased draw ratio and/or the post-treatment of drawn fibers as provided for herein.
  • the present disclosure provides for fabrics that can be thicker and still provide cooling effects by virtue of the high thermal conductivity enabling energy transfer through the fabric, larger thermal mass enabling larger heat storage capacity, and/or high porosity enabling efficient heat removal via convection that the disclosed fabrics provide.
  • the fabrics of the present disclosure can have a thickness approximately in the range of about 300 microns to about 1000 microns, although other thicknesses are possible.
  • the fabric can be knit or woven, although knitting may have enhanced benefits due to the resulting fabric typically being thicker and more porous than weaving the same material.
  • a yam denier of the fabric which can be determined, at least in part, based on fiber diameter and/or a thickness of the fabric resulting from the use of multiple fibers, can be approximately in the range of about 200 to about 2000, and in some instances approximately 300 or higher.
  • the cooling can be a result, at least in part, of optimization of the material crystallinity and chain orientation of the PE polymer chains inside the fibers. More particularly, fiber crystallinity provided for by the present disclosures is approximately in the range of about 10% to about 100%, in some embodiments approximately in the range of about 50% to about 100%, in some embodiments approximately in the range of about 70% to about 100%, and in some embodiments it can be approximately in the range of about 90% to about 100%.
  • one or more post-treatment activities may be performed on the fiber(s) in conjunction with achieving the higher crystallinity percentages.
  • a person skilled in the art in view of the present disclosures, will understand various post-treatment activities that can be performed to enhance fiber crystallinity, including but not limited to fiber drawing and thermal treatment, including both heating and freezing. The foregoing notwithstanding, when designing fabrics in conjunction with the present disclosure, some balance is required to ensure that the level of crystallinity does not lead to a fabric that becomes too brittle and stiff.
  • the degree of the polymer chain alignment — as quantified by the Herman’s orientation function — provided for by the present disclosures is approximately in the range of about 0.1 to about 1, in some embodiments approximately in the range of about 0.2 to about 1, in some embodiments approximately in the range of about 0.3 to about 1, and in some embodiments it can be approximately in the range of about 0.5 to about 1.
  • FIG. 7 One exemplary embodiment of a fabric 400 configured to use thermal conduction to provide cooling is illustrated in FIG. 7.
  • the thickness of the illustrated fabric 400 is about 820 microns and it has a weight (mass per unit area) of about 500 grams per square meter.
  • a total yam denier of the illustrated fabric is 994 (double-plied 497 denier yam).
  • the fiber crystallinity of the illustrated fabric is about 52% and it has an orientation factor of about 0.26. At an orientation factor of about 0.26, the fabric provides a “cool touch sensation” and measurable cooling performance. Even larger alignment values (and/or higher crystallinity values) can have further enhanced performance.
  • a stitch count of the fabric can be approximately in the range of about 280 stitches per square inch to about 600 stitches per square inch (i.e., the number of wales times the number of courses per square inch for knitted fabrics).
  • the stitch count of the illustrated fabric is 352 stitches per square inch, stemming from 16 wales and 22 courses per square inch.
  • the end of life phase 16 of the fabric lifecycle 10 favors textiles that promote ease of disposal.
  • the use of PE for wearable fabrics and textiles also offers promising opportunities for easy recycling of fabrics through well-established industrial processes, as well as their fabrication from recycled materials, including but not limited to the use of colored plastics frequently discarded from the recycling process.
  • a person skilled in the art will recognize that a recycling pathway for PE fabrics and garments will reduce the probability of these materials ending up in landfills and contributing to the microplastic pollution. It can also offer an opportunity to recycle the previously accumulated large amounts of PE waste, whose recycling is currently not economically viable due to the lack of added-value products.
  • PE fibers and yams discussed in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be fabricated by the standard fiber melt spinning process from the linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), medium density polyethylene (MDPE), and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) granules and pellets (or blends thereof).
  • LLDPE linear low-density polyethylene
  • MDPE medium density polyethylene
  • HDPE high-density polyethylene
  • the monofilament fibers of varying diameters provided for herein have been fabricated at the US Army CCDC Soldier Center (Natick, MA) by using a conical miniature twin-screw extruder (MicroCompounder, DACA Instruments).
  • the multi-filament LLDPE yams have been fabricated by the MiniFibers Inc.
  • the yams can be composed of 247 individual filaments with 2 dpf (denier per filament).
  • the yams can be woven into a plain-weave textile, for instance on an industrial-scale loom at the Shingora Textile Ltd. (Ludhiana, Punjab, India).
  • the monofilament fibers can be dry-colored via the spin-dyeing process, and/or by mixing the colorants with the PE material prior to the fiber melt extrusion.
  • the colorants that can be used include, but are not limited to, commercial disperse dyes (Millipore Sigma) and silicon nano-powders (US Research Nanomaterials Inc.).
  • a hydrophilic fabric comprising: at least one of multi-filament yams comprising polyethylene or continuous fibers comprising polyethylene, the at least one of multi-filament yams comprising polyethylene or continuous fibers comprising polyethylene being at least one of spun, woven, or knitted together to form the fabric, wherein the at least one of the multi-filament yams comprising polyethylene or the continuous fibers comprising polyethylene have a modified surface that causes the respective yams and/or fibers to be at least partially-hydrophilic, wherein the continuous fibers are aligned substantially in parallel with respect to each other, and wherein the fabric is devoid of non-poly ethylene yams and non-poly ethylene fibers that mechanically reinforce the fabric.
  • the hydrophilic fabric of claim 1 wherein the modified surface comprises at least one of a changed fiber size, a changed fiber density, or a changed cross-section of the at least one of multi-filament yams comprising polyethylene or continuous fibers comprising polyethylene.
  • the at least one of multi-filament yams comprising polyethylene or continuous fibers comprising polyethylene comprises a pattern arrangement thereof having at least one of a regular triangular arrangement or a square arrangement.
  • polyethylene comprises at least one of low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, medium-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, low molecular weight polyethylene, or ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene.
  • hydrophilic fabric of any of claims 1 to 10 wherein the fabric has a thickness approximately in the range of about 300 microns to about 1000 microns.
  • a water-fiber contact angle of the hydrophilic fabric is approximately in the range of about 50 degrees to about 80 degrees.
  • a method of manufacturing a fabric comprising: extruding one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene; modifying a surface energy of the one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene to change a hydrophilicity thereof; bundling the one or more continuous fibers to form a plurality of yams; and one or more of spinning, weaving, or knitting one or more yams of the plurality of yams with another yam of the plurality of yams to form the fabric.
  • modifying a surface energy of the one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene further comprises at least partially oxidizing a surface of the one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene.
  • bundling the one or more continuous fibers further comprises arranging the one or more continuous fibers substantially in parallel to optimize capillary action through the plurality of yams.
  • modifying a surface energy of the one or more continuous fibers further comprises adjusting at least one of one or more of a fiber size, a density, or a cross-section of the one or more continuous fibers or one or more of a size, a density, or a cross section of the bundled one or more continuous fibers.
  • optimizing the chain orientation and crystallinity of the one or more continuous fibers comprising polyethylene further comprises post-treating the one or more initially extruded continuous fibers comprising polyethylene.
  • the one or more continuous fibers comprise at least one of low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, high- density polyethylene, or ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene.

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Abstract

La présente divulgation concerne de manière générale des textiles qui sont optimisés pour maximiser le drainage de l'humidité et leurs performances d'évaporation. Dans certains modes de réalisation, une poudre de polyéthylène brut (PE) peut être extrudée en fibres qui peuvent être modifiées par oxydation le long de leur surface pour augmenter l'hydrophilie de la surface. Une fois suffisamment oxydée, les fibres peuvent être regroupées pour former des fils multifilament qui peuvent ensuite être filés, tissés, tricotés et/ou associés les uns aux autres d'une autre manière pour former un tissu de polyéthylène. Les fibres de PE peuvent en outre être modifiées pour augmenter une force capillaire du faisceau, augmentant ainsi encore l'hydrophilie du tissu obtenu. L'ingénierie de la force capillaire peut être réalisée en optimisant une ou plusieurs caractéristiques telles que la tailles de la fibre, la densité ou de la section transversale des fibres et/ou des faisceaux. Le tissu obtenu peut présenter une forte réduction du poids, une résistance aux taches et des capacités de séchage, entre autres capacités.
PCT/US2022/013202 2021-01-20 2022-01-20 Textiles de polyéthylène ayant des caractéristiques modifiées qui assurent un refroidissement passif et fabrication associée WO2022164714A2 (fr)

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