GRI develop special textile material

Tamil Nadu: Gandhigram Rural Institute has developed a special new textile material which can be used for making dress for soldiers on the war front. Gandhigram Rural Institute is a UGC recognized deemed university situated near Dindigul in Tamilnadu.

The new material has all features required by the soldiers. the specially modified cotton fabric has self-cleaning, super-hydrophobic and anti-bacterial properties, prefect textile material for military personnel. It has other properties such as softness, breathability and biodegradability. It also has properties of blood repellency and UV protection. The new textile material could also be used for medical professionals and nurses.

Cotton has been chosen as the base material and 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 becomes water-repellent. The fabric has 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 characterized by modern methods such as x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and x-ray photo electron microscopy