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Abstract

Current trends in protective textiles and smart fabrics tryto find a symbiosis of protection and clothing. Textiles for protection is thefruit of a diverse body of talents, drawing together scientific and technicalexpertise from around the world, to produce an important source of currentknowledge on textile materials & clothing, and their use in the protectionof humans in hostile environments. This paper describes the idea of a smoothcombination of the two worlds of protection and clothing.

Significant technological advances are occurring in theprotective clothing industry in search for improved means for the protection ofhuman beings. Ongoing concern for worker safety, protection from life threateningand disabling injuries and illness, and protection for personnel from fire,chemical agents etc, has resulted in the continued improvement in theprotective clothing industry. Changes have affected the structure of theindustry; various endures have placed demands on better performing products. Theseadvances in technology, such as new materials and manufacturing processes foradvanced textiles, have created greatly improved protective fabrics.

Nowadays, most of the advances are taking place in the fieldof defence, sports, fire protection, radiation protection etc. This paper dealswith some of the recent advances in the protective textiles and their field ofapplications.

INTRODUCTION

Safety and protective textiles refer to garments and otherfabric-related items designed to protect the wearer from harsh environmentaleffects that may result in injury or death. Textiles are no more limited foruse as apparels clothing is just are but not the only purpose of textiles withthe rapid changes in the social economic structure of our society. Similarly,textiles enhancing the quality of human life trough protection against varioushazards as well as protection of environment are todays priorities werescientist all around the world are breaking their heads.The environment isconsider to have the highest priority where protection of individual isconsidered as in the defence application such as rain, snow, fog, wind, lighting,sun light, dust and also it should have to survive the intense heat, cold,wetness, UV light, wind-chill and other discomforts on land, sea and in theair.

ADVANCES IN PROTECTIVE FABRICS

The protective clothing industry is undergoing significantchange as a direct result of rapid advances in technology and manufacturingprocesses. These advances in technology, such as new materials andmanufacturing processes for advanced textiles, have created greatly improvedprotective fabrics. A number of current research and development programs areleading to commercialization of new technologies on a international scale.

Some of the advances in protective fabrics are:

Active protection system

Aluminized fabrics

Protective flex

Thermal sensitivity fabrics

Protection against biological and chemical threats

Complete armour protection system

Advanced soldier ballistic protection

ACTIVE PROTECTION SYSTEM

APS is anintelligent fabric that consists of three dimensional spacer textile treatedwith specially formulated, responsive silicone coating. It remains soft andflexible under normal conditions, but when stressed under high impact force,the material instantly becomes rigid, and then immediately returns to aflexible state .The technology behind APS consists of a soft, malleable andformable dilatant silicone, which is impregnated into a three dimensionalspacer textile support. The silicone composition consists of polymers that showtransient bonding to a cross linking component. Under normal conditions, thepolymers are bonded to the cross linker so that the bonds open when subjectedto a long period deformation force, which allow the material to flow. When thisforce is removed, the bonds easily reform again, returning the silicone to itsoriginal soft state.

ADVANTAGES

Fully integrated active safety that can be stitched directly into garments.

Material customization and versatility that allow many creative design possibilities.

Breathable, Flexible and light weight construction for outstanding comfort and freedom of movement.

Washable for easy care and maintenance.

FIELD OF APPLICATIONS

Motorcycle garments

Military and civil defense

Medical applications

High performance protective and apparel

Life sciences

BEATING THE HEAT WITH ALUMINIZED FABRICS

Aluminized fabrics

Combining materials expertise and innovation, these aluminized fabrics enhance human performance. Firefighters and industrial workers, when wrestling with a blazing inferno or standing for hours in front of a 1200-degree furnace, constantly face the threat of radiant heat the first heat to engulf a person in close proximity to fire. These fabrics help people withstand extreme temperatures. Aluminized fabrics are specifically designed to provide the ultimate protection from extreme heat, molten metal or high-pressure steam.

PROTECTIVE FLEX

The new smart response fiber is proving to enhance passenger safety because of its unique energy-management properties. Securus is the first in a new category of polyester copolymer fibers being developed for managed-load applications. It combines polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which provides restraining properties, and polycaprolactone (PCL), which provides flexibility and cushioning.During a collision, Securus fiber seat belts protect the passenger in a three-step process: holding the passenger securely in place; elongating and cushioning the body as it absorbs the energy of its forward motion; and restraining and limiting that motion.

THERMAL SENSITIVITY

SmartSkin hydrogel is a new technology involving a hydrophilic/hydrophobic copolymer, which is embedded in an open-cell foam layer bonded to the inside of a closed-cell neoprene layer in a composite wet suit fabric with nylon or nylon/Lycra outer and inner layers.

SmartSkin absorbs cold water that has flushed into the suit and expands to close openings at the hands, feet and neck, preventing more water from entering. Water trapped inside the suit heats up upon body contact. If the water warms up past a transition temperature determined by the proportion of hydrophilic to hydrophobic components, the hydrogel releases water and contracts, allowing more water to flush through the suit. This passive system constantly regulates the internal temperature no batteries or mechanical action are needed.

PROTECTING AGAINST CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL THREATS:

Protection against biological and chemical threats

Chemical and biological weapons, once considered only a battlefield threat, now intrude into our everyday lives. Weapons of mass destruction are now, and will continue to be, a threat to all. These fabrics are helpful in chemical and biological protection.

COMPLETE ARMOR PROTECTION SYSTEM

CAPS (Complete Armor Protection System) are flexible body armor for law enforcement and military personnel. CAPS body armor can be configured to address specific threats, including knife, slash, spike, fragmentation, ballistic, and stab. It is a multiple threat body armor system that can be configured with these protective layers:

Soft round - composite fabric backing with Ballistic fiber > 25g/d

Knife - flexible Metal Flex Armor (MFA) mosaic solid element panel

Hard round - (military) component layers

Fragmentation - balanced system

ADVANTAGES:

Maximum protection through the combination of high concealment and low bulk

System is custom configured to meet specific threat assessments

Flexibility of MFA panel allows for extremity system designs vs. traditional system of trauma plates or chain mail

MFA Interaction with Knives

MFA tends to grab and hold knife tip after penetration

MFA damages the knife tip and knife edge

Reduced threat in multiple strike attacks

Thin light blades are likely to be broken by MFA

FIELD OF APPLICATIONS:

Mainly in defence applications

ADVANCED SOLDIER BALLISTIC PROTECTION:

The main objective of these fabrics is to develop or insert advances in materials technology to improve protection and performance of armor systems against conventional and emerging ballistic threats while minimizing penalties associated with the increased levels of protection.

ADVANTAGES:

Light weight personnel armor with significant increase in ballistic protection

Better protection and lighter weight equates to improved survivability and tactical mobility for the individual

Enhanced analytical tools for body armor development, test and evaluation and acquisition/ fielding

More realistic survivability assessment

CONCLUSION

The technical textile market is respective to innovative new products. There is opportunity and need for functional, cost-effective materials. But the market is fragmented and complex. Development and lead times are often long and expensive. The market is quite small but exhibits moderately strong growth and produces are generally of high unit values. Due to increasing health and safety issues at work this may be an increasingly attractive segment. Good products are needed and they must work well. It is a market that offers opportunity, but also one that demands that much development and testing be done prior to adopting new products. There may be long lead times much resistance to things new products to market.

REFERENCES

International fibre journal, April 2006

Manmade textiles in India, May 2006

Wellington sears Handbook of Industrial textiles

A C Horrocks Handbook of technical textiles

www.gentexcorp.com

www.textiles.edu

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