Innovations in Medical Textiles (Diapers...Tampons...)

Textile design doesn't stop at apparel - it can change the way we dress wounds, and it can also go beyond the surface in the form of implanted devices.The March newsletter from Technical Textiles Net focused on developments in medical textiles. I'm re-posting a sampling of those stories for your inner textile engineer:

Absorbent articles comprising hydrophilic nonwoven fabrics

A process for treating fibres to render them more hydrophilic has been developed by Procter & Gamble. The invention could find application in the production of nonwoven fabrics used to make disposable absorbent articles, such as baby diapers and adult incontinence garments.

Tampon with apertured film cover thermobonded to fibrous structure

In US Patent 7 857 800, Johnson & Johnson describes a tampon in which the apertured film cover (18) is thermally bonded to the absorbent structure (16) via a number of discrete spots (22) on the surface.

Daio to build diaper plant in Thailand

Japan’s Daio Paper has established a joint venture with Thailand-based Saha Pathanapibul to produce baby diapers in Thailand. The US$36 million manufacturing facility in Chonburi province, the group’s first overseas plant, is planned to begin production in the first quarter of 2012. Initial monthly output is expected to be 16–18 million units, which could eventually be increased to 90–100 million units. Daio Paper owns 85% of the joint venture, which is called Elleair Interna; Saha Pathanapibul holds 10% and another Thai company, Sanko, has a 5% share.

Proxy Biomedicaland DSM collaborate on mesh and scaffolds

Ireland-based Proxy Biomedical has entered into a partnership with DSM Dyneema to develop a surgical mesh called ExtreMesh, targeted at orthopaedic applications. The product is made from DSM Dyneema’s Purity high-performance polyethylene fibre.

Electro-active compression bandage

ConvaTec Technologies has disclosed a pressure transition system that is said to be a cost-efficient solution for applying external pressure to a body part, particularly for the treatment of lymphoedema.

Plushie : An Interactive Design System for Plush Toys

Yuki Mori and Takeo Igarashi

Amelie is back out there with her obsession with toys and cute things, somehow related to the very serious matter of the future of textiles... SPOTTED : the future of crafted toys and one of its experimental lab in Japan... My future next big trip :)

Thanks to this experimental programme, the user can interactively designs a stuffed animal's model by sketching. The system automatically generates the corresponding 2D cloth pattern you have to use to make a 3D stitched shape to stuff.

This is soooo coooool !!!

Although for now it only works on PC (tsssss...)

This is a PhD research project by Yuki Igarashi
at Fine Digital Engineering Laboratory
Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST)
Graduate School of Engineering
The University of Tokyo
click on the video for a short demonstration of how this works

Aglow at Uniqlo: "HeatTech Japan Technology"

Watch out! It's Christmastime. Oxford Circus is saturated with silver, shiny, metallic, illuminated, glittering objects these days, but none are as hard to avoid as the ones around Regent Street were on November 20th. Outside of Uniqlo's flagship store, silver-clad messengers from a more technologically advanced land invited Londoners into their pod stations for a little analysis. The thermal scanning experience coincided with the European launch of Uniqlo's HeatTech line. According to Uniqlo's website, "HeatTech innerwear is woven out of a specially designed hollow fibre thread" to provide you with "a secret weapon against the winter chill."

Judging by the data-rich graphics and reflective materials surrouding the HeatTech garments, one gets the impression that this stuff is coming either straight from the most advanced materials science lab on this planet or from another planet all together. It's so new looking. We appear to be in the midst of the biggest development in thermal retention since Joseph Beuys happened upon the ancient Tartar secret recipe of felt and animal fat. One burning question: is Uniqlo unique? What distinguishes it from comparable winter undergarments?

HeatTech labels itself as "heat generating". This is amazing, because technically, it is a step beyond the "heat retaining" clothing items available from Patagonia or The North Face. HeatTech has apparently been engineered with the ability to convert water vapor into heat - an innovation of alchemical proportions.
This made me skeptical about the Uniqlo claim. Had this value-driven urban lifestyle retailer really outwitted companies whose brand identity depends on knowledge of performance material? Or is the HeatTech conversion process no different from "wicking" (the active removal of water from the skin's surface by fibers such as wool and silk has been known for hundreds of years)? It was a tough distinction to make, and required a little armchair research on the science behind staying warm.

There is a complex interaction going on between metabolism, thermal generation, heat exchange, material conductivity, insulation, and convection. On a more amusing note, reptiles and amphibians, whose core temperature approaches thermal equilibrium their environment, will experience a slowing of biological processes in a cold environment...slow thinking, slow moving, slow reacting. We mammals use materials, such as hair and feathers, to prevent us from donating our heat to the world.

One way that hair works to retain heat is by trapping a layer of air around our skin. Our skin will initially lose heat to the layer of colder air, but once the air is warmed up, we want to keep it there. HeatTech garments are made with hollow-core fibers that do a great job of trapping air, but so are garments made with Polartec and Viloft. While it's easy to find comparable products on the market, Uniqlo's line of thermal retention garments comes with a fun take on future fabrics, reinforcing the notion that there is a market for innovation in performance materials beyond sportswear and specialist shops.

Japan's Toray Industries , a leader in textile research, is the brain behind HeatTech. They also provided Uniqlo with the fibers for their "non see-though white" trousers. The partnership between Toray and Uniqlo is expected to result in 200 bn business by 2010, so prepare to see more fabric innovation shining on the shelves of Oxford Circus.