Think North Carolina textiles and you probably think of an image of the past—powerhouse mills that dot the landscape, drive the economy, and bring work to entire towns.
But listen to what the men and women at the College of Textiles at North Carolina State University say and you’ll soon see a new image of textiles in North Carolina. It’s more than cotton t-shirts; it’s research into ways to grow skin to help burn victims, airplane filters to prevent one passenger from giving the flu to everyone, and lighter, stronger sporting equipment—from skis to tennis rackets to bicycles.
North Carolina textiles are becoming infused with technology that adds value and functionality. One type of technology with the potential to shape the industry is nanotechnology—the manipulation of materials and systems at the level of atoms and molecules.
“We believe that textiles are the backbone for nanotechnology. Textile substrates can be composed of nanofibers and can also be functionalized by other nanotechnologies,” said Behnam Pourdeyhimi, associate dean for industry research and extension and director of the Nonwovens Cooperative Research Center. Nonwoven textiles, unlike woven fabrics, are produced directly from fibers or polymers; they are in the form of webs that are bonded together by various means to form a flexible engineered fabric. Fibers in a nonwoven run in several different directions, while woven fibers run in neat vertical and horizontal lines.
It’s one of the fastest growth areas in the textile industry. North Carolina’s nonwoven sector averages about a billion dollars in business a year, said Blanton Godfrey, dean of the NC State College of Textiles. Count all the business indirectly affected by the nonwoven industry, suppliers, and local economies for example, and about $3 billion dollars is affected by the nonwoven industry.
Researchers in the College of Textiles at NC State are creating unconventional “textile” products, such as skin grafts, by harnessing the power of nanotechnology. Russell Gorga, assistant professor in Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science at NC State, has been using nanofibers to build a synthetic copy of the body’s extracellular matrix—the connective tissue that surrounds and supports cells. One immediate application for these nanofiber skin grafts is to re-grow the skin of burn or laceration victims. The skin graft provides a porous support structure where cells can attach and nutrients can flow into the cell while waste flows away.
“What’s important for cells to grow is that they need places to attach to, hence long fibers with small diameters have a lot of surface area where cells can stick to them easily,” said Gorga. To do this, Gorga creates small, nanoscale fibers through a process called electrospinning that uses an electrical charge to spin fibers into a nonwoven pattern. In the long term, Gorga hopes to use this technology to create bone grafts.
“If you see textiles as cotton clothing then you don’t see the connection to nanotechnology, but we see textiles for everything they are,” said Gorga.
The world of consumer textiles has also been changed by nanotechnology. Manufacturers have created stain-resistant or moisture-wicking fabrics by applying a chemical finish containing nanoparticles to cloth. Nano-Tex, a California-based textile company with a regional hub in Greensboro, specializes in developing such chemical finishes. Their stain-resistant or moisture-wicking fabrics are sold in retail stores, such as Sears, L.L Bean and Hugo Boss.
This next generation of textiles that uses nanotechnology stands to benefit not only consumers, but also first responders. For example, the military has invested in fabrics reinforced with nanofibers for high performance, lightweight tents, and awnings that can better endure heavy wear and tear. Pourdeyhimi, who worked on this fabric at NC State, said, “I haven’t seen fabrics like this in my 15-plus years working in nonwovens—low cost, high volume and high performance.”
Another NC State research team collaborated with researchers from the Emory University School of Medicine to create a face mask that, when exposed to light, kills viruses and bacteria. "In the presence of light, a specific reaction takes place on the surface that makes the air poisonous to the microbes, yet harmless to people," Stephen Michielsen, associate professor in Textiles & Apparel, Technology & Management at NC State, said in a press release. "The coating doesn't wear out and continually regenerates so it's able to continue killing viruses again and again."
The patented technology has been licensed and a spin-off company, LaamScience Inc., has been created in the Research Triangle area dedicated to bringing a “viral inactivating” safety mask to market. The company has also expanded its commercialization efforts to create furniture, wall coverings, and airplane filters that can neutralize viruses.
This is just one example of the economic benefits of homegrown, high-tech research. Many scientists call nanotechnology the next frontier in science. A June article in National Geographic said that as more research and technology emerge from nanotechnology, “the computer revolution will look like small change.” In the last 20 years, technology and globalization transformed North Carolina’s textile industry. Nanotechnology is quickly becoming another driving force for change and innovation in the industry.
“It will not be what it was, says Dean Godfrey. “It will not be large mills employing several hundred thousand people.” The NC State scientists point to the nonwovens, technical textiles, such as fan belts and tires, and high-strength, low-weight composites as the new areas of growth and economic potential in the industry.
“We’re going to have to have more special products and we’re going to have much more automation and much more technology,” said Godfrey.
