Fibres & Textiles Biobased textile fabrics for clothing applications Around one million tonnes of fabrics used for clothing applications (including casual and workwear) are produced each year in Europe by yarn spinning (ring and rotor spinning techniques) combining natural fibres (such as cotton or wool) and synthetic fibres (such as polyester). Blends of natural fibres and synthetics are generally prepared to improve comfort and durability aspects of the end products. However, these standard fabrics are complex to recycle after their use since both types of fibres are intermingled and cannot be separated again. Companies in the textile industry are challenged today to make a radical shift towards innovative and high added value products to counter the competition with low-wage countries. In this context, FIBFAB project currently under Grant Agreement preparation will receive funding from the European Union (H2020 Fast Track to Innovation Pilot programme) in order to successfully launch and industrialize the production of biodegradable and sustainable polylactic acid (PLA) based fabrics (wool/PLA and cotton/PLA) for the applications in casual (menswear and womenswear), protective and workwear clothing, and to overcome the current limitations of PLA fibres as a real alternative to current fabrics (wool and cotton combined with polyester fibres). This improvement will be carried out by applying the knowhow and methodology developed in prior European projects BIOFIBROCAR and BIOAGROTEX. By: Amparo Verdú Solís Extrusion Department Researcher Main FIBFAB project innovations will be: • To obtain a final clothing product 100 % biobased and biodegradable that meets the mechanical and performance requirements of the textile sector in correspondence with the final applications. • To improve the current poor thermal resistance of PLA fibres to meet the requirements in several clothing applications by the technology developed in previous EU projects to enhance the final PLA crystallinity. • To improve the extrusion process for PLA fibres (fine fibres less than 3 dtex) and especially the mechanical spinning process (friction control in ring spinning) to be able to spin PLA blend fibres at higher speeds. • To introduce in the textile market yarns and fabrics produced from PLA fibres and cotton or wool. Due to the chemical nature of PLA, it has been proved that it has better breathability, hydrophilic properties, UV resistance, low smoke production and flammability and lower density than PES. With a duration of 24 months, AIMPLAS Plastics Technology Centre will coordinate this Innovation project and, together with the rest of the consortium, (Centexbel, D.S. Fibres, Yünsa and Sintex) cover the textile value chain from fibre production to product manufacturing and thus ensuring that industrial implementation of PLA fibres for clothing will be possible. www.aimplas.es 7.1B41 AIMPLAS (Plastics Technology Centre Paterna, Spain 22 bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/16] Vol. 11
Drive Innovation Become a Member Join university researchers and industry members to push the boundaries of renewable resources and establish new processes and products. www.cb2.iastate.edu See us at K 2016 October 19-26, 2016 Düsseldorf, Germany Hall 5, Booth C07-1 bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/16] Vol. 11 23
