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Updated: Jul 19, 2025
Solution Blow Spinning of Polymeric Nano-Composite Fibers for Personal Protective Equipment
Published on: March 18, 2021
Modified polyamide fibers with low surface friction coefficient to reduce microplastics emission during domestic
Yinchao Qian1, Panpan Cui1, Jingjing Zhang1
1College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China.
Abstract:
The widespread presence of microplastics has become a serious threat to humans and ecological environments because they carry many pollutants and can be easily ingested by aquatic organisms. Fibrous microplastics (FMPs) released from synthetic fiber garments during domestic laundry are a major source of contamination. Herein, we report a facile FMPs mitigation strategy for polyamide 6 (PA6) fibers by incorporating environmentally friendly polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) during melt spinning. The obtained PA6/PDMS fibers showed a lower friction coefficient than the pure PA6 fibers. Surface morphology, tribology, and washing characterizations verified that a 60% reduction in FMPs shedding was achieved by reducing the friction. In addition, the low-surface-friction PA6/PDMS fabrics with high hydrophobicity exhibited improved waterproof and anti-stain behaviors. It is important to note that none of the essential properties, such as surface structure, dyeing and printing of the fabrics were compromised after PDMS blending. This study provides a green and scalable route for mitigating laundry microfibers using a fiber domain design.
