Project goal

Within H/OPLA, we will use plasma coating for hydrophobic and oleophobic coating of high added value textiles. The novel approach will be research and developed for two types of products:

  • High tech PPE outerwear (e.g. policemen or firemen) which is only sporadically washed/cleaned during its entire lifetime. Hence, a single plasma treatment at 2D or 3D level should be sufficient
  • High tech work wear (e.g. medical) that is repeatedly industrially washed (70 to 100 times). In this case, even with the most advanced technologies of today, a single time functionalisation is not sufficient. Therefore, a plasma refreshment treatment will be developed that can be performed repeatedly on the 3D garment, for example after each washing and drying cycle.

The latter generates a unique opportunity for textile rental service firms to offer the extra service of environmental friendly and efficient refreshing water repellency. This promotes the use of woven textiles over throwaway products. The process will be based on short chained fluorocarbons (FC6), a first environmental advantage. Second, plasma coating is a dry technique which also implies a low energy demand. The typical hand of the treated materials remains intact because of the limited add-on. The 3D finishing of garments has as extras that it also treats traditionally weak spots (seams, stitches) and it is done at the very end of the production. This means more flexibility to fulfil the specific needs of the end-users and minimisation of stock keeping. These advantages improve the PPE and work wear performance and form a competitive advantage for textile finishers and confectioners. Europlasma system for roll-to-roll treatment of fabrics (CD1500/600 system)

Partnership:

  1. EUROPLASMA (coordinator) - producer of low pressure plasma systems (Belgian SME)
  2. ALSICO - confection of medical work wear (Belgian Large Enterprise)
  3. CHAMATEX - weaving and finishing of specialty fabrics (French SME)
  4. CENTEXBEL - expertise on coating and finishing of textiles, testing (Belgian Research Centre)
  5. ETSA - European Textile Services Association - laundry services intelligence (European Association)

Acknowledgement:

This project is being funded within Crosstexnet (ERANET).

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