High performance textiles separation

Dye identification is of great interest in textile studies. The classical procedure requires a hydrolysis step and other extraction techniques, followed by identification of the individual compounds present after separation by a chromatographic technique, e.g. high-performance liquid chromatography [Novotna et al. 1999, Szostek et al. 2003]. However, ToF-SIMS can be an alternative method, avoiding the phase of extraction which is always a time consuming and delicate step because of the possible destruction of the molecular structure of the sample [Ferreira et al. 2002]. The development of ToF-SIMS for dye detection has been reported in different studies. 

Specialty polymers achieve very high performance and find limited but critical use in aerospace composites, in electronic industries, as membranes for gas and liquid separations, as fire-retardant textile fabrics for firefighters and race-car drivers, and for biomedical applications (as sutures and surgical implants). The most important class of specialty plastics is polyimides. Other specialty polymers include polyetherimide, poly(amide-imide), polybismaleimides, ionic polymers, polyphosphazenes, poly(aryl ether ketones), polyarylates and related aromatic polyesters, and ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (Fig. 14.9). 

Considerable research is devoted to high performance Sportswear and even the Ready-to-Wear segments of textiles. The desire is to maintain the body dry by wicking water away as the body generates heat and perspires. To illustrate the concept of diffusion, consider a semi-permeable membrane laminated to a fabric. Assume the sample was placed in a cell separating a column of air from a column of saturated water vapor. The membrane is permeable for water vapor but not air. At time t — 0, thanks to Brownian motion, the water molecules will traverse the membrane and then diffuse through the fabric sample to the air. (Evidently, the fabric sample is usually next to the skin—this example is for illustration purposes only.) The molecular transport through the fabric is referred to as diffusion. 

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