The comparative study of nursing pads by electrospun cellulose acetate, polyethylene oxide and thermoplastic polyurethane nanofibers

This study summarizes the general information about nursing pads and novel electrospun nanofiber mats as potential component for nursing pads. It also compares electrospun thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), cellulose acetate (CA) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) nanofibers with a polypropylene conventional disposable nursing pad (NP) in terms of hydrophilicity, breathability, air permeability and swelling properties. Nanofiber mats prepared by the electrospinning method have unique properties such as smooth surface, high specific surface area and high porosity with fine pores which will lead to improved wicking properties. These properties make nanofibers potential component for disposable nursing pads. Mean diameters of produced nanofibers were 284.39, 609.70 and 219.30 nm for CA, TPU and PEO, respectively. Water contact angle measurement revealed that these nanofibers show good wettability properties better than commercial nonwoven nursing mat and air permeability results revealed that these nanofibrous mats have considerably adequate permeability. Besides, water vapor permeability results showed these nanofibers still show good breathability despite their compact structure. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

Use of a carbon dioxide laser for environmentally beneficial generation of distressed/faded effects on indigo dyed denim fabric: Evaluation of colour change, fibre morphology, degradation and textile properties

Denim garments are particularly popular with the younger population of adults. Distressed or worn out effects have been and will continue to be popular with this market sector. These faded or worn effects have been achieved using a range of physical, chemical and mechanical finishes. Both wet and dry finishing of denim fabrics and garments pose severe environmental and health risks. Recently, environmentally beneficial decolourisation/ablation methods for denim fabrics have been investigated. Such methods have included plasma, laser, and ozone treatments. Researchers in this field have highlighted the potential of CO2 laser treatment of 100% cotton denim, however the textile performance post-treatment has not been properly investigated. In this study, light, medium and heavy weight indigo dyed 100% cotton denim fabrics were exposed to a CO2 laser at a range of power and intensity levels. Colour change was investigated using a Spectrophotometer, morphological structural analysis was carried using Scanning Electron Microscopy, and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) was used to monitor the loss of indigo dye and degradation of the cellulose fibres. The thermal-oxidative degradation behaviour of fabrics was also studied using differential scanning calorimetry to obtain oxidation onset temperature. In addition, several fabric performance assessments were carried to evaluate tensile strength, colour fastness, air permeability and thickness. Findings reveal that the grayscale rating, which is the tone density and hence laser power affected the colour change and as the grayscale increased, the colour fading was higher and affected the fabric performance across all fabric weights. Based on this, the research recommends an optimum set of laser processing parameters to produce stressed or faded denim effects without compromising the fabric performance. This research demonstrates that faded effects on denim can be produced with low environmental and health risks

Improving the reach of vaccines to low-resource regions, with a needle-free vaccine delivery device and long-term thermostabilization

Dry-coated microprojections can deliver vaccine to abundant antigen-presenting cells in the skin and induce efficient immune responses and the dry-coated vaccines are expected to be thermostable at elevated temperatures. In this paper, we show that we have dramatically improved our previously reported gas-jet drying coating method and greatly increased the delivery efficiency of coating from patch to skin to from 6.5% to 32.5%, by both varying the coating parameters and removing the patch edge. Combined with our previous dose sparing report of influenza vaccine delivery in a mouse model, the results show that we now achieve equivalent protective immune responses as intramuscular injection (with the needle and syringe), but with only 1/30th of the actual dose. We also show that influenza vaccine coated microprojection patches are stable for at least 6 months at 23 degrees C. inducing comparable immunogenicity with freshly coated patches. The dry-coated microprojection patches thus have key and unique attributes in ultimately meeting the medical need in certain low-resource regions with low vaccine affordability and difficulty in maintaining "cold-chain" for vaccine storage and transport. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

cotton fabrics

The aim of this study was the development of a prototype machine for the processing of fabrics, which can be used as a reactor for the continuous finishing processes. The optimum applicator design for fabrics was developed in accordance with laboratory-scale experimental studies. Reactive printed samples were treated with the combination of radio frequency and steam in order to take advantage of the steam energy and to improve energy absorption. The colour yields of the samples fixated with the combination of radio frequency and steam energy were compared with conventional steaming (10 min) and thermofixation (5 min) processes. It was observed that steam-assisted radio frequency fixation ensured similar colour yields in a shorter setting time (3 min) compared with conventional methods. It was concluded that the new system could be an alternative method of setting, with the advantages of time savings and lower energy consumption

Properties of bioadhesive ketoprofen liquid suppositories: preparation, determination of gelation temperature, viscosity studies and evaluation of mechanical properties using texture analyzer by 4 x 4 factorial design

WOS: 000328148400008PubMed ID: 24156540Context: Development and evaluation of thermosensitive and bioadhesive liquid suppositories containing ketoprofen (KP). Objective: This study was conducted to develope thermosensitive and bioadhesive liquid suppositories containing KP using poloxamer and different bioadhesive polymers and to investigate their gelation temperature, viscosity and mechanical properties. Materials and methods: Bioadhesive liquid suppositories were prepared by the cold method using poloxamer 407 (P 407), Poloxamer 188 (P 188) and various amounts of different bioadhesive polymers. Their gelation temperatures, viscosity values and mechanical properties were determined using texture analyzer by 4 x 4 factorial design. Results: It was seen that in presence of KP, gelation temperature of formulation P 407/P 188 (4/20%) significantly decreased from 64 to 37.1 degrees C. It is to be noted that addition of increasing concentrations of bioadhesive polymers lowered gelation temperature and its decrease was highest with addition of Carbopol 934 P (C). Results of texture profile analysis (TPA) showed that formulations containing C have significantly higher hardness and adhesiveness values than other bioadhesive formulations. According to TPA, gel structure of liquid suppository formulation F5, containing P 407/P 188/KP/C (4/20/2.5/0.8%), exhibited the greatest hardness, compressibilty, adhesiveness and besides greatest viscosity. Discussion and conclusion: According to mechanical properties and viscosity values, it was concluded that F5 could be a promising formulation.Research Foundation of Ege UniversityEge University [06/ECZ/005]The authors wish to thank Research Foundation of Ege University for financial support given to this study. Project number: 06/ECZ/005

INVESTIGATION ON DYEABLITY OF NYLON 6 NANOFIBRES WITH REACTIVE DYE

WOS: 000423954500135The Dyeablity of nanofibres has been an important challenge to the entire polymer and textile chemist for last decade. The new approaches to provide dyeability of nanofibres increase the cost of the dyeing operation considerably. In this regard nylon 6 electrospun nanofiber was produced. The morphology of resultant nanofibers was studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM) before and after dyeing with reactive dye (C.I. Reactive Violet 3) and then dyeability of nylon 6 electrospun nanofibers was evaluated. Reactive dyes are organic compounds capable of forming covalent bonds with the nucleophilic groups of fiber polymer chain. When a dye bonds with fiber the dye becomes part of fiber. The SEM results of nylon 6 nanofibers before and after dyeing with reactive dye, extent of exhaustion and extent of fixation showed that nylon 6 nanofibers are dyeable with reactive dye via making covalent band

Application of Exergy Analysis to Textile Printing Process

This study reveals an exergetic analysis of the reactive and pigment printing processes. Exergy models of the printing processes were formed and each step examined in terms of exergetic parameters. In the printing machine, the reactive printing process led to a higher specific exergy use due to the penetration requirement of the printing paste. The exergy efficiency in the subsequent drying after printing was found to be independent of the printing method, but affected by the fabric structure, which was calculated to be between 3.8% and 4.8%. In the fixation step, pigment printing provided the highest exergy efficiency, calculated to be 2.15%, due to the direct heating of the fixation air. It was observed for the fixation step that the boiler unit of the steaming process and the burner of the hot air fixation process led to the highest exergy destruction rates. The total exergy destruction rate in pigment printing was found to be higher than in the washing and final drying stages of reactive printing alone; thus, it was shown that the exergetic improvement of the post-washing and drying of reactive printing is of great importance

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