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SCIENCE TALK(IE)S: clothing that heals - conversation with professor Izabella Krucińska



Lodz University of Technology and the Institute of Natural Fibres and Medicinal Plants in Poznań have carried out the Bioakod project, funded with a grant from the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR). The goal is to develop a technology for manufacturing clothing with healing properties that could facilitate treatment of dermatological conditions. Professor Izabella Krucińska, head of the Department of Materials and Commodities Science and Textile Metrology, talks to us about the positive outcomes of the project.

 

„Bioakod” is an interdisciplinary project carried out by several units. What is TUL's role in it?

The project has been carried out in cooperation with the Institute of Natural Fibres and Medicinal Plants in Poznań. Our task was to enhance the activity of natural components of woven and knitted fabrics by surface treatment. We impregnated the surface of the textiles with microcapsules holding medicinal herbal extracts and we tried to ensure that they released the added value as a result of friction. We also investigated the duration of their effective release. Obviously, its intensity is the largest in the first days, and that is why we needed to design the structure of the microcapsule so that the release of the medicinal herbal extract could be sustained over time. Garments are made from such pretreated textiles for people with dermatological conditions, seniors, as they help treat them.


The projects sits well within the global trend of cosmetotextiles manufacturing. Cosmetotextiles are textiles with cosmetic properties, safe for humans. At the Faculty, the Centre for Advanced Technologies Pro Humano Tex is where we work on developing such textiles. This activity is part of human ecology that deals with ecological products, safe for humans, functional. One idea of human ecology is to create added value in textiles so that they would not just be neutral for the user. And we have succeeded in it. Today, bioactive textiles are used to manufacture socks which soften the skin of your feet. The idea of textiles which treat diseases means going a step further.

 

The wound dressings in used right now are not comfortable, they peel off and slip away and, as a result, they fail to protect the wound, which reduces clinical efficiency of dressings. Hence the idea for shape-fitting garments made from textiles with therapeutic and skin care properties.

 

What does such a microcapsule look like?

It is a sphere 20 to 30 micrometers in size. It has a core which contains herbal extracts and a porous shell. The pores need to be of proper size so that the therapeutic substances could seep through. The oozing takes place gradually as friction triggers opening of next layers of the microcapsule shell. The pretreated textile can be used over and over again. Microcapsules do not unnecessarily release the substance they hold in their core during the laundry, which is possible thanks to the application of a special finishing treatment. A capsule with antioxidant properties does not wear out yet at the same time, it is biodegradable.

 

Is it possible to manufacture therapeutic clothing from any kind of woven or knitted fabric?

Any item of clothing with therapeutic and skin care properties can be made from any kind of woven or knitted fabric because all kinds of materials can be impregnated with microcapsules. The only thing that is needed is an appropriate finishing treatment process. What is more, the clothing need not be grey. We have used natural dyes: ochre, red, blue, green - pastels; however, in production, it could be any colour.

 

How much will such clothing cost?

Right now, before commercialization, it is hard to tell exactly. It is estimated that the cost could be similar to that of natural fabrics - linen or cotton. It is known that the functional advantages of the clothing, e.g. antioxidant properties, makes us more inclined to pay more for the clothing that heals.

 

When are we going to be able to buy such clothing?

Commercialization of research results is a very difficult area in Poland. The new operational programme "Intelligent development" gives an optimistic outlook because it forces business organizations to liaise with universities to look for innovation. In textile industry the competition is quite strong and therefore, only niche solutions, where the added value of a product increases, stand a chance of implementation. I have noticed an increased interest in cosmetotextiles, yet, we still have not been successful in finding a partner that would undertake manufacturing microcapsules.

 

The technologies you have been developing render fabrics 'smart'. What does it mean?

Properties of 'smart' woven and knitted fabrics change as does their environment. It is easy to see in a room where there are toxic vapours. 'Smart' fabric may then change their physical properties, e.g. their electrical resistance, which will affect the signal we monitor. We mostly work with graphene and carbon nanotubes by formation of the so called percolation pathways from electron particles. Their movement, caused by increasing or decreasing temperature, disturbs the percolation path, which is the mechanism we use. The easiest thing is to use nitinol shape memory material in textile products. Nitinol either shrinks or expands due to temperature. For example, we have investigated a winter jacket made from shape memory materials which changed its size due to changes in temperature. The deformation of the fabric due to temperature has not been the only change under investigation. UV radiation may change the colour of the fabric. In our Faculty, professor Marek Kozicki has been researching this topic.

 

How can these properties be useful?

They help protect human health and save human lives. In medicine, they have been used in stents which are placed in people with coronary diseases. Placed in the artery they expand as the temperature increases and enable proper blood flow. The stent placed in a blood vessel needs to be as small as possible, only to change its size later to expand the vessel. Commercially available stents are made of nitinol alloys, however, research in this area is ongoing. Currently, we are working on using polymers in stents in cooperation with the Center of Polymer and Carbon Materials of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Zabrze. "smart' fabrics can also be used outside medicine, e.g. in clothing industry.

 

Some of the new materials and their applications still seem like science-fiction. What have you been working on now, Professor?

We have been working on the idea of engineering a fabric which would be 'the second skin' for humans. We would like it to have the same properties that the human skin has and we would like to be able to protect, e.g premature babies who do not have fully developed skin when they are born. We have been continually working on engineering its further bioactive properties and functionalities

We have also been interested in occupational safety of, e.g. fire-fighters, miners. We have been developing solutions to ensure that the sensors placed in their uniforms monitor their health condition and their heat balance in extreme conditions, e.g. in a room where the temperature is very high.

 


Date of record:2016-10-11
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Submitted by:
Anna Boczkowska
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