The Textile Research and Industrial Cooperation Institute of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Instituto de Investigación Textil y Cooperación Industrial de la Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, UPC, in Spanish), created a new, innovative technology for the production of textile nanofibres. The project was announced by Professors Arun Naik, leading the study, and Francesc Cano, both from the UPC.
Their goal: to study the developments in nanotechnology contributing special properties and performance to fabrics.
Stain-repellant fabrics
The application of nanotechnology can result in stain-repellant fabrics, so that oil, coffee and wine stains would be completely eliminated from T-shirts or sweaters, for instance. Arun Naik explains, “Nano particles have properties that are completely different from those of the original material. I started working on this project because the Textile Research Institute allowed me to handle fibres and do research work on the properties that result after transformation. We had reached a dead end in textile research so we had to find something that gave fabrics an added value. And this, is nanotechnology”.
Body temperature control
Body temperature can be regulated by means of batteries generating cool or warm conditions, depending on the environment. “This system has full guarantees and we can use it”, says Arun Naik who is now waiting to reach an agreement with a company, to start marketing the new technology. This will result in the production of affordable clothes with this technology, by 2015.
Nanotechnology prototypes were presented in September last, during the major textile tradeshow, Man-made Fibers congress, held in Donbirn, Austria.
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