Textiles modified with nanotechnology are increasingly being used in many industries, especially in the automotive, medical, and healthcare sectors. For all these applications, the goal is to produce functional textile materials with technical properties designed for various requirements. Various techniques have been developed to make textile materials functional. The physical vapor deposition (PVD) method in high vacuum has created new application areas for modifying and functionalizing textile materials, as it does not use environmentally harmful chemicals. One of the most commonly used techniques in PVD is magnetic sputtering coating, which is frequently used in glass, ceramic, and microelectronic industries. Antistatic fabric is a type of technical textile sought by work uniform manufacturers; hospitals, electronic industry companies, dyehouses, military personnel, fuel and gas transportation personnel, pharmaceutical and medical equipment manufacturers, and research laboratories need antistatic work clothing.
In this proposed project, the aim is to coat the surfaces of synthetic fibers (for example, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), etc. material fibers with a diameter of 10-100 mm) homogeneously with good electrically conductive metals such as Ag and Ti in high vacuum. When these modified fibers are woven into fabric, they will replace similar imported technical textiles due to their antistatic and antibacterial properties. For a fabric to be defined as antistatic, its surface resistance must be between 10^6-10^8 ohm/sqr; therefore, fibers will be coated with Ag and Ti in a thickness that provides antistatic properties. Additionally, in case of charge accumulation on the surface due to friction or other effects, the charge will be conducted and discharged through a very thin conductive fiber.
Therefore, coating the fibers with only a 20 nanometer or thinner layer will be sufficient. In this project, a vacuum coating system will be designed, produced, and made operational to coat the surfaces of synthetic fibers and yarns with metal at high speed (10-100 meters/min) in high vacuum. Fabric will be woven from the coated yarns, and the antistatic and antibacterial properties of the obtained fabrics will be examined. In addition, the potential use of these technical fabrics for electromagnetic shielding, radar wave absorption, and infrared camouflage purposes will also be evaluated.
This coating machine, which is not commercially available, can be secured by a patent and used in mass production, while also providing know-how for the construction of other machines. Thus, the production of such yarns in our country will bring Turkey to the position it deserves in the field of technological textiles. In addition to the export of technical textile products, there will also be wide application areas in fields such as protective, military, and clean room clothing.
In order for the Turkish textile sector to maintain its competitive power, it needs to turn to innovative, high value-added advanced technology products. The Textile Strategy Report published by the Turkish Ministry of Industry in September 2008 emphasizes that Turkey, which had the world's seventh largest synthetic yarn capacity as of the end of 2006, also represents the EU's largest synthetic capacity, and highlights the importance of turning to technical textiles. The proposed project is again an interdisciplinary study that will serve this goal.