A process and apparatus for separating a carbon filament tow into a set of reduced filament count bundles. The process includes feeding a tow of carbon filaments into a guide array, mechanically splitting the tow within the guide array into filament bundles, removing a coating from the filament bundles, feeding the filament bundles into a guide pin assembly to separate the filament bundles with a reduced filament count from one another, applying a false twist to the filament bundles to loosen individual filaments then recombining the individual filaments of each filament bundle into a re-bundled ribbon. Coatings may be applied to each re-bundled ribbon prior to winding each re-bundled ribbon onto a take-up.

The present disclosure generally relates to textiles that are optimized to maximize moisture wicking and evaporative performance thereof. In some embodiments, raw polyethylene (PE) powder can be extruded into fibers that can be modified by oxidation along a surface thereof to increase hydrophilicity of the surface. Once sufficiently oxidized, the fibers can be bundled to form multi-filament yarns that can then be spun, weaved, knitted, and/or otherwise associated with one another to form a polyethylene fabric. The PE fibers can be further modified to increase a capillary force of the bundle, thereby further increasing hydrophilicity of the resulting fabric. Engineering of the capillary force can be performed by optimizing one or more of a fiber size, a density, or a cross-section of the fibers and/or the bundles. The resultant fabric can exhibit a strong weight reduction, stain resistance, and drying capabilities, among other capabilities.

The present invention relates to a surface-modified aramid fiber and a method for preparing the same. The method includes the following steps: modifying an aramid fiber having amino groups and carboxyl groups on the surface with siloxane -glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane to obtain a silicon methoxylated aramid fiber; reacting same with a cerium oxide coated with polydopamine modified chaotic boron nitride to obtain a surface-modified aramid fiber. The cerium oxide coated with polydopamine modified chaotic boron nitride has high ultraviolet absorption, and has extremely low catalytic activity, avoiding the damage to a fiber structure by photocatalysis during radiation, being an effective, safe and highly-efficient ultraviolet absorber. The surface-modified aramid fiber provided in the present invention has an ultraviolet-resistant function, high surface activity, good thermal performance, and better mechanical performance, providing excellent overall performance, and having higher utilization value. The method is simple and controllable, being suitable for large scale production.

A method of making an antimicrobial textile comprising TiO.sub.2 nanoparticles is described. The TiO.sub.2 nanoparticles are immobilized by first treating a textile with a base, and then contacting with TiO.sub.2 nanoparticles in a solution of an alcohol and acid. The textile may be subsequently irradiated with UV light prior to use. The antimicrobial textile shows high effectiveness against the growth and proliferation of microorganisms transmitted within indoor environments.

A detectable scouring pad is provided that is made with a sparse unwoven base polymer that defines the pad shape, an overcoating of cured thermoset resin loaded with a particulate on the base polymer, the particulate present in an amount to render the polymer detectable by X-ray detection or magnetometer detection. A process of detecting a scouring pad includes forming a fiber composed of a base polymer having a cross-section and a length, and distributing a particulate on the thermoplastic polymer in a thermoset resin matrix. The process further includes forming a sparse unwoven thermoplastic polymer from the fiber, and manufacturing the scouring pad from the sparse unwoven polymer by overcoating the base polymer with a particulate loaded thermoset resin. The scouring pad is passed through an X-ray detector or a magnetometer detector, and a signal is collected from the detector indicative of the presence of the scouring pad.

Apparatuses for manipulating a color displayed by an article of wear comprising iron oxide colloidal nanocrystals arranged within chains are described. The apparatus includes (a) a magnetic field source, wherein a strength of a magnetic field generated by the magnetic field source is tunable to control the color displayed by the article of wear, and (b) an energy source, wherein energy generated by the energy source is applied to at least some of the chains of nanocrystals to soften materials within the article of wear immediately surrounding the chains of nanocrystals to which the energy is applied.

The invention relates to methods of depositing silver onto a substrate using a dilute silver salt solution.

The present disclosure relates to patterned photonic crystals. Provided photonic crystals are large scale silk inverse opals with tunable, geometrically defined structural color. Provided photonic crystals exhibit structural color or a photonic band gap (PBG). Provided photonic crystals are is found to be highly sensitive to water vapor and UV irradiation. Provided multicolored photonic macro- or micro-patterns are shown by selectively applying water vapor or UV irradiation through a shadow mask. The present disclosure also provides methods for making and using the same.

Methods, systems, and devices for changing cross-sectional sizes and/or shapes of flat braided sutures and the resulting constructs are disclosed. The flat braided sutures can have a textile first cross-sectional shape that can be changed to a textile second cross-sectional shape. The systems can have a heater and a die. The flat braided sutures can be movable through the heater and the die. When the flat braided sutures are in the heater, the flat braided sutures can be heatable from a textile first temperature to a textile second temperature greater than the textile first temperature. When the flat braided sutures are at the textile second temperature, the textile first cross-sectional shape can be changeable to the textile second cross-sectional shape.

A fabric suitable as an alcohol repellent fabric is provided. The fabric includes a fibrous substrate including a first outermost surface and a second outermost surface, in which a non-fluorinated barrier coating (NFBC) is located on at least a portion of a first outermost surface of the fabric, at least a portion of a second outermost surface of the fabric, or both.