Functional and Comfort Properties of Textiles from TENCEL® Fibres Resulting from the Fibres' Water‐Absorbing Nanostructure: A Review

Abstract

The comfort in wear of textiles has been studied extensively on the level of textile construction. The influence of the fibre material is present in the experience of textile consumers, but objective assessment is rather difficult. Some recent works are reviewed here. TENCEL 1 is a man-made cellulosic fibre of the generic fibre type lyocell. The background of the special comfort in wear of textiles made from TENCEL 1 fibres is explained as a consequence of the fibres' water-absorbing nanostructure. The basis for these properties are found in the high absorption of water and water vapour, which leads to high heat capacity and heat balancing effect for thermoregulation, comparable with the action of phase change materials. The thermal wear properties resulting are the cool and dry touch, the active cooling effect in sports wear, and the warming properties when used as an insulation layer. These effects are to a certain extent adaptive to the environment, providing comfort in a wide range of climatic conditions. Moreover, neutral electric properties, retarded bacterial growth and good skin sensory perception add to the overall skin friendly properties, which were also shown in wear studies with patients suffering from skin diseases.

Protective properties of health care materials influenced by the application conditions

“…This indicates the greatest change of this material in terms of absorption properties after 10 cycles. This change can be explained by well-known fact that Tencel® absorb water through fibre, while cotton fibre absorb water only on surface [5]. By further subjecting fabrics to washing and sterilization cycles, there is no significant difference in the absorption rate, with total increase after 50 cycles compared to the initial (0 cycle) sample of only 4 % (total 94 %).…”

“…While cotton, which is most often used for underwear, keeps most of the water at fibre surface, and is thus more susceptible to develop microorganisms, Tencel® is different and is being increasingly used in medicine and postoperative situations on the expense of cotton and other materials. Tencel® does not let off particles (textile dust) as opposed to cotton, which is prone to such shedding and is for this reason being removed from medical applications [5].…”

Functional design and construction of reusable surgical gowns considering microbial barrier

“…The high absorption capacity provides the necessary comfort. An even greater advantage is given to Tencel® from a medical aspect because it does not release particles or produces textile dust [12,13]. PES/PU/PES three-layered textile laminate meets the European standards for surgical textiles EN 13795; it is impermeable to all liquids, viruses and also meets dry and wet microbiological tests.…”

Enhanced Absorbent Products Incorporating Cellulose and Its Derivatives: A Review

“…To make it less likely that swollen SAP particles can seal the passages adjacent to a cellulosic fiber, one could select fibers having an irregular cross-section (Pramanick and Crouse 1998). For instance, certain viscose fibers have been observed to be multi-lobal in cross-section (Schuster et al 2006). The use of twisted, curly fibers for absorbent products has been patented (Sun and Lindsay 2003;Hu and Ko 2006).…”

“…In the case of chemically pulped fibers, effects related to porosity also extend to the nano-scale. A mesoporous structure within various kinds of cellulose material has been well documented (Stone and Scallan 1968;Schuster et al 2006). Also, it has been proposed that grafting of such fibers with hydrophilic polymer chains may serve to brace adjacent microfibrils apart from each other, thus contributing to the swellability and ultimately to the volume available for sorption of fluids (Lepoutre et al 1973).…”