Nanotechnology, one of the leading industrial technologies in the world, is increasingly attracting worldwide attention and has been used in many industrial applications in recent years, including textiles. It gives specific properties to the textile products while conserving the inherent properties of the fabric. Cofra s.r.l., Greenyarn Ltd., Schoeller, Textil AG, Nisshinbo Holdings Inc. are some of the globally known enterprises that are active in the production of nano-products.
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According to reports, 130 enterprises from 28 countries have produced 249 nano-products in textiles segment. The United States possesses the highest number of nano-products with 49 individual nano-products in textiles. The share of various enterprises in nanotechnology applications are 24% in technical fabrics, 17% in clothes, 6% in medical fabrics, 3% in sport and domestic fabrics, and 1% in leather and shoes.
The major application of nanotechnology in clothes belongs to pants (33%) and socks (29%); antibacterial, waterproof and anti-stain properties are the most common applications in clothes. Furthermore, most used nanostructures in the production of textiles comprise silver, silicon dioxide, titanium dioxide and carbon (bamboo-charcoal). Silver nanoparticles owing to its antibacterial and anti-stink properties possess a share of 45% in the textile industry.
The application of nanostructures results in increasing the efficiency of the product and consequently, creates value added products with unique properties such as self-cleaning, anti-abrasion, antibacterial, fireproof, UV-resistant, anti-stain and anti-shrinkage in the fabrics. Anti-static, X-ray- and gamma-resistant clothes can be produced by using nanotechnology.
