Multifunctional fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites provide an ideal platform for next-generation smart composites applications including structural health monitoring, electrical and thermal conductivity, energy storage and harvesting, and electromagnetic interference shielding without compromising their mechanical properties. Recent progress in carbon-based nanomaterials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has enabled the development of many novel multifunctional composites with excellent mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. However, the effective incorporation of such carbon nanomaterials into FRP composites using scalable, high-speed, and cost-effective manufacturing without compromising their performance is challenging. This review summarizes the recent progress on graphene and CNT-based FRP composites, their manufacturing techniques, and their applications in smart composites. Current technical challenges and future perspectives on smart FRP composites research to facilitate an essential step toward moving from research and development-based smart composites to industrial-scale mass production are also discussed.

Personal protective clothing is critical to shield users from highly infectious diseases including COVID‐19. Such clothing is predominantly single‐use, made of plastic‐based synthetic fibers such as polypropylene and polyester, low cost and able to provide protection against pathogens. However, the environmental impacts of synthetic fiber‐based clothing are significant and well‐documented. Despite growing environmental concerns with single‐use plastic‐based protective clothing, the recent COVID‐19 pandemic has seen a significant increase in their use, which could result in a further surge of oceanic plastic pollution, adding to the mass of plastic waste that already threatens marine life. In this review, the nature of the raw materials involved in the production of such clothing, as well as manufacturing techniques and the personal protective equipment supply chain are briefly discussed. The environmental impacts at critical points in the protective clothing value chain are identified from production to consumption, focusing on water use, chemical pollution, CO 2 emissions, and waste. On the basis of these environmental impacts, the need for fundamental changes in the business model is outlined, including increased usage of reusable protective clothing, addressing supply chain “bottlenecks”, establishing better waste management, and the use of sustainable materials and processes without associated environmental problems.

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3D printing (3DP) is one of the modern approaches in the field of manufacturing. Although this process has been known for a fair amount of time, only the recent developments have revealed its novel and true potential for applications in different manufacturing sectors. Textile, one of the basic human requirements, does more than just fulfilling the fundamental necessity of covering our body. Integrating 3DP technology in textiles has broadened the horizon of the textile world.This review explores the historical background as well as state-of-the-art developments in 3DP related to textiles and fashion. Basic ideas about fundamental textile substrates, various 3DP technologies related to textiles, different printing devices and tools, materials used as print inks, direct printing of 3D objects on various textile substrates, fabrication techniques of 3D printed textile structures, different process parameters and their impacts, tests and standards, benefits and limitations are the contents of the discussions throughout this paper. It also highlights the future aspects concerning the further implementation of 3DP technology in the textile industry.Overall, the paper draws a picture with an intention to ascertain the undeniable promise of 3DP, despite having some drawbacks, to enrich the future of the textile and fashion industry with an aim to motivate future designers and scientists towards further exploration within this field of knowledge.

Freshwater is an increasingly scarce resource that is extensively used in textile wet‐processing. In seeking to identify alternative low freshwater‐usage coloration technology, this study examined the potential use of seawater (SEAW) as the dyeing medium for wool coloration using a range of reactive dyes. Initially, the dyeing behaviour of the wool fabric in simulated seawater (SSW) was compared with conventional dyeing from distilled water (DW) using α‐bromoacrylamide‐based Lanasol dyes and sulphatoethyl sulphone‐based Remazol dyes. These preliminary studies demonstrated that comparable coloration could be achieved in the SSW medium based on an assessment of the dye exhaustion, dye fixation, colour yield and levelness. Subsequent dyeing studies of wool using Mauritian seawater with both the Lanasol and Remazol reactive dyes confirmed that, based on the dye exhaustion, dye fixation, colour yield and levelness, comparable coloration could be achieved, highlighting the possibility of substituting freshwater with seawater as the dyeing medium.

There is an increasing interest in adding value to textiles by the use of natural products. Many of the plant materials, from which natural dyes are obtained, found to have some medicinal values. In the current study, dyeing materials were prepared from pomegranate (Punica granatum), wild mangosteen (Diospyros peregrine), myrabalan (Terminalia chebula), arjun (Terminalia arjuna), betel nut (Areca catech), onion (Allium cepa), tea (Camellia sinensis), neem (Camellia sinensis), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus cinerea) and dye flower (Coreopsis basalis). Cotton fabrics were dyed with the extracted colouring materials and were tested for their wash fastness to ensure the durability of the colour on the fabrics. Finally, the antimicrobial property of ten different natural dyed fabrics was tested against Bacillus subtilis (Gram positive) and Escherichia coli (Gram negative). The cotton fabrics dyed with extracts of arjun, betel nut, pomegranate, tea and onion were found to have antimicrobial activity against both the test bacteria at varying efficiency. The dyed fabrics also showed reasonably good wash fastness; hence have practical potential for adding antibacterial properties along with vibrant colours to textiles of medical and other delicate uses. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v48i3.17327 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 48(3), 179-184, 2013

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Conductive textiles have found notable applications as electrodes and sensors capable of detecting biosignals like the electrocardiogram (ECG), electrogastrogram (EGG), electroencephalogram (EEG), and electromyogram (EMG), etc; other applications include electromagnetic shielding, supercapacitors, and soft robotics. There are several classes of materials that impart conductivity, including polymers, metals, and non-metals. The most significant materials are Polypyrrole (PPy), Polyaniline (PANI), Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), carbon, and metallic nanoparticles. The processes of making conductive textiles include various deposition methods, polymerization, coating, and printing. The parameters, such as conductivity and electromagnetic shielding, are prerequisites that set the benchmark for the performance of conductive textile materials. This review paper focuses on the raw materials that are used for conductive textiles, various approaches that impart conductivity, the fabrication of conductive materials, testing methods of electrical parameters, and key technical applications, challenges, and future potential.