Advances in Polymer Coated Textiles

Book excerpt: Polymer coated textiles are known as engineered composite materials at macro scale. Coating can offer significant improvements to the substrate, mainly of the physical (like impermeability and fabric abrasion) and/or of overall chemical properties; as well as the appearance, by combining advantages of the components.Polymer coated systems employ various kinds of textile substrate structures available, mostly of technical textiles. Since there are a number of possibilities for different types of polymers and their combinations, textile structures as well as their combinations are possible; it is widely open to creativities and almost every day some new innovative application is being introduced. Polymer coated textile industry, being parallel to the developments in the textile research, is so dynamic that, today, applications like reactive coatings with nanoparticles (with self cleaning, self sterilizing surfaces), systems with conductive polymer coatings to provide EM shielding, electronic textile systems -with body monitoring properties-, environmental responsive systems etc. are already somewhat classical and are considered almost left in the shade of incoming new developments. This book is an up-to-date summary of the subject by considering the passage from conventional to emerging technologies. Criteria for selection of the coat and textile are considered and the manufacturing basics of the system are summarized. Emerging technologies and applications (including smart, intelligent and nanostructured applications) are completed by testing and quality control methods of these systems.The book is written for all that are interested in this interdisciplinary area, it certainly will prove to be of great help to textile and polymer technologists, to engineers, to scientists, as well as to students.