Fibres and textiles from synthetic polymers offer high functionality with regard to sweat transport and drying rate in sports clothing. However, the limited biodegradability of standard polyester and polyamide fibres leads to concerns with regard to release of micro-plastics and disposal. Here, a hydrophobic coating is used on cellulose fibre and subsequent blending with untreated fibre to bring about a modified yarn with optimised water transport properties.
The hydrophobic surface of the hybrid fibres is designed to resemble synthetic fibres like polyester or polyamide. In dynamic tests 90% of water was transferred from hydrophobic cellulose fabric into a hydrophilic cellulose layer, less than 10% of the added volume was held back in the capillaries of the hybrid material. The core of the fibres however exhibits the characteristics of cellulosic fibres thus dyeing of the hybrid fibres with standard reactive dyes for cellulose is possible. Water sorption of the hybrid fibres and water retention of the surface modified cellulose fibre were determined with 8 %wt and 30–35 %wt respectively. Thus both parameters remained at the typical level of unmodified cellulose fibres.
This work is an example of an alternative method to replace synthetic fibres with bio derived and biodegradable material in functional clothes.