Development of a Sustainable Coated Textile (Fabric) or Biocomposite Using a Combination of Fibrous Materials (Plant-based fibres and Agricultural and

Development of a Sustainable Coated Textile (Fabric) or Biocomposite Using a Combination of Fibrous Materials (Plant-based fibres and Agricultural and Poultry waste fibres) and Polymers for Industrial and Medical Applications.

Synthetic polymers or plastics offer a number of unique advantages such as availability, high strength, and lightweight, which have led to the expansion of plastic applications in every aspect of life. But plastics also have major disadvantages such as non-biodegradability, lack of sustainable and eco-friendly synthesis and processing systems, leakage problems, etc., which make most cheap synthetic polymers unsuitable for applications in the industrial and medical sectors. To solve the problem, natural biopolymers have been tried, but different polymers have different problems like poor processability, high price, etc. These problems lead to the use of fibre-reinforced composite structures (made of different polymers and fibrous materials) in various applications. Therefore, the proposed research aims to investigate the development of coated textiles or composite structures that could replace synthetic products in the industrial (packaging) and medical (surgical and hygiene) sectors. The secondary aim is to ensure the sustainability of the product in terms of the production process and the product itself.

The work will involve different raw materials, while some special machines would be required for developing the required structure. Details on them are given below.
Raw Materials: Natural fibre would be taken as the main raw material for the nonwoven structure. For the resin, the most suitable one from several options will be taken to prepare the resin. A natural adhesive may bind the fibres and form bonds between the fibres and resin if required. Additional chemicals may be required to impart some other required properties (softening/improving hydrophobicity/improving mechanical properties/improving flexibility, etc.,) to the fabric.

Machines:
A nonwoven fabric setup (laboratory scale) will be required to produce the nonwoven sheet from the fibres. Standard equipment used in a chemistry laboratory would be sufficient for the chemical modification of the resin. In the last segment of the development part, a fabric coating machine (laboratory scale) will be used. However, manual application of adhesive and coating material too could be used.

The research will be started with fibres collection. The fibers will have to go through routine processes (cleaning, scouring, etc.) before being converted into the required fabric sheet and the coating would be applied afterward. The adhesive would be applied to the fabric surface if required before applying the coating. But in that case, the viscosity of the adhesive would be required to be kept in the lower region to ensure penetration within and into the fibres. Normally, the coating would have more viscosity than the adhesive. Chemical modifications would be done to the coating polymer, or a combination of different polymers would be specified (depending on the requirements of the end products) to get the best result from the coating. After the application of the coating, the fabrics will go through proper curing processes before being taken to different characterisation tests.

The proposed area of research covers the area of engineering and physical sciences, which is the remit of the EPSRC. Specifically, the proposed research involves textile and biomaterial-based chemistry, investigation of materials using advanced techniques and instrumentation.