Research status and prospect of intelligent fibres and textiles

Intelligent fibre is a kind of fibre that integrates sensing and information processing. It is similar to biological materialsand has intelligent functions such as self-perception, self-adaptation, self-diagnosis, and self-repair. Intelligent textilesrefer to textiles that have sensing and responding functions to the environment. Intelligent fibres and their textiles notonly have the ability to perceive and respond to external stimuli but also have the ability to adapt to the externalenvironment. In recent years, the research on intelligent fibres has achieved many results in the world, and it is widelyused in textiles and clothing industry. Therefore, this paper summarized the research status of intelligent fibre andintelligent textile worldwide, and put forward the research direction in the future. This paper introduced the propertiesand research status of five kinds of main intelligent fibres, including phase change fibre, shape memory fibre, smarthydrogel fibre, optical fibre and electronic intelligent fibre, and summarized their application in textiles. This paper alsointroduced the research status of five important intelligent textiles, including intelligent temperature control textile, shapememory textiles, waterproof and moisture permeable textile, intelligent antibacterial textile and electronic intelligenttextile. Moreover, it forecasted the development prospects of intelligent fibres and textiles, and pointed out developmentdirection in three aspects of performance optimization, green and safety, industrialization. It provided research referenceand guidance for future intelligent fibre and intelligent textile.

CATALYTIC SURFACE MODIFICATION OF ALUMINA MEMBRANE FOR OXYGEN SEPARATION

Two types of alumina ceramic membrane in hollow fibre shape was used in this study. Both alumina hollow fibres (AHF) were sintered at different temperatures; (a) 1350oC and (b) 1450oC. In order to improve the catalytic activity of the alumina membrane for oxygen separation purposes, surface modification of the membranes was carried out using La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ (LSCF) perovskite catalyst. LSCF was synthesised using simple Pechini sol-gel method. The evaporation time and temperature of the LSCF-sol were varied to obtain various viscosity of catalytic sol. From XRD analysis, pure LSCF perovskite structure formed at temperature at 850oC. The morphological of unmodified and surface-modified alumina hollow fibre membranes (AHF) were studied using FESEM. The effect of LSCF catalytic sol viscosity was studied and it was found that as the viscosity of the sol increases, the amount of catalyst deposited on the alumina hollow fibre were increased. Besides, the amount of catalyst deposited on 1350 AHF was found to be higher than 1450 AHF. This result is supported by the result of pore distribution data whereby 1350 AHF was observed to be more porous than 1450 AHF, with porosity percentage of 40.38% and 28.80%, respectively. Although higher viscosity of catalytic sol could lead to a high amount of catalyst deposited on the AHF substrate, there is a tendency for micro-cracks to develop. Thus, the viscosity of the catalytic sol is important to control in order to have higher oxygen permeation flux.

A comparison of fibre deformations from mill like and laboratory kraft cooking of softwood

The fact that industrial pulps have a lower strength than their corresponding laboratory pulps is an unsolved problem affecting in various ways the potential fibre utilisation in different mills. The loss of pulp strength has to a great extent been attributed to changes at the fibre level. In order to clarify in what way changes in fibre properties contribute to the strength losses, cooking experiments were conducted using a laboratory batch digester in which mechanical forces may be introduced. Fibre properties, i.e. fibre structure and fibre strength, of laboratory-made pulps were compared with those of an industrial pulp. It was concluded that two essentially different mechanisms may be identified; one related to the transverse fibre shape, the other to fibre damage. The latter is manifested as lower rewetted zero-span strength which reduces tear resistance and tensile strength of the pulp. The former is a collapse of the fibre, reducing the lumen area and resulting in a pulp with lower water-retaining capacity, given sheets of lower density and a pulp that has to be beaten to a higher degree to reach the desired bonding and the desired tensile strength.