Journal de la science et de l'ingénierie textiles

The sericin is natural, eco-friendly, proteinous and biodegradable biopolymer which is obtained as byproduct from silk industries. The gummy sericin material has to be removed from raw silk in degumming procedure to give luster to silk. The sericin has number of useful application in various fields such as cosmetics, food, medical, membranes, biomaterials, etc. Hence, it is recovered as by product from silk waste or effluent of silk industries by various extraction methods. The present paper emphasize on sericin, especially on its chemical composition, sources, properties and extraction methods. Further sericin characteristics and applications have been also discussed one by one.

As a preliminary study of fiber figure evaluation, the methodology of fiber orientation and aspect ratio calculation, especially that used in card webs, is discussed. To determine the fiber direction, the maximum variance method is introduced. In this method, we can derive the fiber’s main direction, which satisfies the criteria of maximum length and minimum width. Moreover, an experimental technique using image analysis is detailed. The results are consistent with the published studies. Thus, this method is viable and has a reliable theoretical background.

Smart textiles are fabrics that have been designed and manufactured to include technologies that provide the wearer with increased functionality. These textiles have numerous potential applications, such as the ability to communicate with other devices, conduct energy, transform into other materials and protect the wearer from environmental hazards. Research and development towards wearable textile-based personal systems allowing e.g. health monitoring, protection and safety, and healthy lifestyle gained strong interest during the last few years. Smart fabrics and interactive textiles’ activities include personal health management through integration, validation, and use of smart clothing and other networked mobile devices as well as projects targeting the full integration of sensors/ actuators, energy sources, processing and communication within the clothes to enable personal applications such as protection/safety, emergency and healthcare. This writing includes the origin and introduction of smart textile and integrated wearable electronics for sport wear, industrial purpose, automotive and entertainment applications, healthcare & safety, military, public sectors and new developments in smart textiles.

The present study was taken up as an exploratory study to test if some natural dyes have inherent antimicrobial activity with a view to develop protective clothing using these natural dyes. For enhancing the dyeability of cotton fabric with natural dyes, three cationising agents namely; Monochloro-S-Triazine, Quat 188 and Solfix E were used. Four natural dyes namely; Madder, Logwood, Cutch and Chelidonium majus were tested against common pathogens Escherichia Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus favus and Candida albicans. Chelidonium majus dye was most effective and showed maximum zone of inhibition there by indicating best antimicrobial activity against all the microbes tested. The color yield of dyed samples was evaluated using K/S measurements. The total difference ΔE CIE (L*, a*, b*) was also measured. The dyed samples were tested to washing, acid and alkaline perspiration, dry and wet rubbing and light fastness. The durability of the antibacterial effect of the dyed cotton fabric was measured after 5, 10 and 20 washing cycles.

Warp tension is a major parameter of the weaving process. The system analysis of a weaving machine leads to a simulation model for calculating the warp yarn tension. Validation of the simulation has demonstrated that the results correspond well with the reality. In a second step, an improved model of this simulation was used in combination with a genetic algorithm and a gradient based method to calculate optimised setting parameters for the weaving process. A cost function was defined taken into account a desired course of the warp tension. It is known, that a low and constant warp tension course is suitable for weaving. Using the genetic algorithm or the gradient based method leads to optimised weaving machine parameters. Applying the optimised setting parameters on a loom demonstrated that the quality of the produced fabrics can be improved. Further analysis of produced fabrics did not show an influence of optimised weaving machine parameters on the mechanical properties or productivity of the weaving process.