Gandhigram Rural Institute has developed a special textile material for soldiers with all features required by them. This material can be used for making dresses for soldiers on the war front.
Describing the nature of the new material here on Tuesday, Chemistry Professor M.G. Sethuraman said the specially modified cotton fabric that had self-cleaning, super-hydrophobic and anti-bacterial properties would increase the usage of textiles for military personnel. It had other properties such as softness, breathability and biodegradability. It also had properties of blood repellency and UV protection. It could also be used for medical professionals and nurses, he added.
Cotton was chosen as the base material and was modified by fabricating a copper coating through reduction of copper acetate by employing ascorbic acid at room temperature. With a coating of Stearic acid over the copper-coated fabric, the surface of the fabric became water-repellent, he said.
Mr. Sethuraman said the fabric had mechanical stability and washing durability showing super- hydrophobic property with a water contact angle of 159 degrees. It would also separate oil-water mixture owing to its super-oleophilic nature of functionalised cotton. Tests against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria too showed very good anti-bacterial activity as well as blood-repelling property.
The material had been characterised by modern methods such as x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and x-ray photo electron microscopy, he noted.
“We had already submitted a detailed research proposal to Defence Research and Development Organisation in this connection. Its cost of production will not be much. Moreover, the quality of cotton will be retained,” he said.
“We have also been widening the research to manufacture electronic textiles that will become the choice of the youth in the future. The DRDO was approached for funds to widen our research,” he said.
A research article on the modified cotton fabric by Mr. Sethuraman and research scholar T. Suryaprabha was published in Cellulose journal.
