Bombyx mori silk fibroin (SF) is one of the most important fibers among biomedical porous materials due to its superior machinability, and biocompatibility. It is also chosen for its biodegradability and bioresorbability. It is a protein-based fiber. In this paper, we have reviewed the key features of SF. Moreover we have focused on the morphous, technical processing and biocompatibility of SF porous materials. We have also dealt with its application in research. Finally, a perspective on potential applications and problems of SF porous materials were provided.

Thermal manikins are useful tools to study clothing comfort and environmental ergonomics. The simulation of sweating can be achieved by putting a highly wicking stretchable knit fabric “skin” on top of the manikin. However, the addition of such a fabric skin makes it difficult to accurately measure the skin surface temperature. Moreover, it takes considerable amount of time to measure the fabric skin surface temperature at each test. At present the attachment of temperature sensors to the wet fabric skin is still a challenge. The distance of the sensors to the fabric skin could significantly influence the temperature and relative humidity values of the wet skin surface. Hence, we conducted an intensive skin study on a dry thermal manikin to investigate the relationships among the nude manikin surface temperature, heat losses and the fabric skin surface temperature. An empirical equation was developed and validated on the thermal manikin ‘Tore’ at Lund University. The empirical equation at an ambient temperature 34.0 °C is T_{sk} =34.00-0.0103HL. This equation can be used to enhance the prediction accuracy of wet fabric skin surface temperature and the calculation of clothing evaporative resistance.

This study is a theoretical investigation of the liquid water transport coupled with moisture and heat transfer in porous polymer materials. The solid surface zeta potential and the fiber diameter are investigated to reveal the mechanisms of the coupling effects. Based on the Poisson- Boltzmann equation for electric double layers and Navier-Stokes equation of liquid flows, a mathematical model to simulate the complex coupled heat and moisture transfer in porous polymer materials is reported in this paper.

The influence of garment pressure on human physiological activities has attracted researchers from many areas. In this study, to investigate the effect of external pressure on skin blood flow (SBF) at lower limb in different postures, external pressure was exerted on lower limb in supine and sitting postures using sphygmomanometer. Five undergraduate male students volunteered to participate in the study. An alternating pressure loading protocol between non-pressure and pressure of 20mmHg or 40mmHg was employed. The SBF undergoing pressure was observed with Laser Doppler Flowmeter. It was found that the SBF increased under low pressure and began to decrease as the pressure exceeded a certain level (around 35mmHg). It was speculated that the change in SBF due to external pressure was the result of balance between the neural effect and mechanical effect. The blood pressure in supine posture was lower than that in sitting posture, thus the blood pressure in metarterioles was lower in supine posture and thereby the SBF began to decrease under lower pressure in supine posture than that in the sitting posture. In the case of microcirculation, high pressure can be an obstacle, particularly in supine posture. These findings will be helpful in the design and application of tight-fit garments.

The biaxial tensile elastic properties of polyester and cotton plain knitted fabrics were investigated. Firstly, these fabrics were tested on a biaxial tensile instrument and subjected to biaxial extension at a fixed extension or a fixed load; the result shows that the coursewise and walewise stress and strain of fabric samples were affected by each other. Then the strip biaxial tensile (the fabric is stretched in one direction and the other direction is restricted) elastic properties of plain weft-knitted fabrics were measured at a fixed extension. An analytical model was used to predict the strip biaxial tensile property, and the theoretical predictions agree well with the experimental data.

This paper reports the reaction of cotton cellulose with sulphamic acid using pad bake process. FT-IR and FT-Raman were used to analyse the intermediate products formed during this study. The self-crosslinking of the modified cotton fibre has special characteristics including good dye ability in case of ammonia or ethanolamine initiated crosslinking. Peroxide should react with the modified fibre to give peroxy cellulose. The self bleaching and anti-bacterial qualities of this reacted cellulose are worthy of investigation.

Flax is preferred by consumers and used widely in clothing and garments owing to its merits, such as fast moisture absorption and carry-off, natural grain, unique style, etc. While flax, as one kind of natural bast fiber, not only includes cellulose but also includes gum consisting of pectin, hemicellulose and lignin, these materials glue cellulose into stiff sheet bundle fiber, thus, gum must be removed before spinning, through retting process, therefore, retting is the treatment that degrades the pectin-rich middle lamella connecting adjacent fiber cells to release bast fibers, which is the predominant problem in preparation. The original processing of flax is dew retting, which is time-consuming and results in unstable quality of flax. Therefore, Microbe treatment of raw flax is studied in this paper. One strain of fungus screened from soil is used in experiments, and pretreatment of flax is also involved. The evaluation is based on modified Fried Test. Treated and non-treated flax is tested by infrared spectrum and X-ray diffraction. The results manifest that ammonium oxalate is an effective pretreatment chelator to remove calcium, which loosens the tight structure of gum. Therefore, the method in which raw flax is pretreated with chelator followed by treatment with fungus is feasible; furthermore, bast fiber and xylem can be separated fully in 5h.

In order to improve the finishing effect of raw bamboo fiber treated with sericin protein, it was selectively oxidized by NaIO4 and then treated with sericin solution. The morphology and structure of sericin proteinic raw bamboo fiber were analyzed by means of SEM, XRD, TG and DSC. The treatment results show that sericin protein could be directly coated onto the oxidized raw bamboo fiber without any other reagent and a covalence was formed between amido and aldehyde group. After being treated with sericin protein solution, the thermal stability and crystallinity of the oxidized raw bamboo fiber improved and the surface became smoother.

Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) Filaments has a low surface free energy and therefore modification of their surface properties before any use is often needed. Atmospheric pressure plasmas treatment is a convenient and environment friendly way to obtain these modifications by introducing new chemical groups at the surface without affecting the bulk properties. This paper studies the influence of nano-SiO_2 Sol-gel coated pretreatment on atmospheric pressure jet (APPJ) treatment of UHMWPE fibers with helium used as the treatment gas. The surface properties of the plasma-treated UHMWPE Filaments are characterized using contact angle measurements and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The UHMWPE Filaments show a remarkable increase in surface free energy after plasma treatment. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy of the plasma-treated UHMWPE Filaments reveals that plasma treatment introduces oxygen-containing functionalities, such as ketones, aldehydes, alcohols and carboxylic acids on the UHMWPE Filaments surface leading to the increase of surface free energy.

This study analyses the characteristics of PU/MWNT nanocomposite films. For this purpose, several kinds of PU/MWNT nanocomposite films were prepared with four kinds of MWNT, MWNT contents and two kinds of dispersion times. ESD (Electrostatic Dissipation) films composed of polyurethane (PU) block copolymer and selected multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) were also prepared by disperse processing with various MWNT contents and dispersion times. Its mechanical and chemical properties were investigated with respect to electrical conductivity. The tensile properties and chemical properties of PU/MWNT nanocomposite films were measured using UV-visible spectrometer. These properties were also discussed according to the manufacturing conditions of nanocomposite films. Furthermore, PU/MWNT films were made by dispersing them in five kinds of CNT contents and six kinds of dispersion times under the DMF (dimethylformamide) solution. The mechanical properties of the PU/MWNT films were analyzed by Instron and discussed for various dispersion conditions.