I + D / Nanotecnología aplicada a materiales textiles. Desarrollo de fibras, hilatura y tejeduría

PREVENTEX – HEALTH AND PREVENTION: THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW FUNCTIONALISED TEXTILE STRUCTURES FOR USE IN THE FIELDS OF HEALTH AND PREVENTION

Year: 2018

MOTIVATION

In the field of health care, preventative measures are still the most effective way of achieving a healthy and dignified life, despite many advances in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

In recent years, the general health of the public has begun to decline, spurring public health systems to modify and adapt to strengthen comprehensive health care at the primary level of attention, closest to where it is needed, changing the objective of health care at that level and transferring priority from care to health promotion and disease prevention.
The provision of basic health services, actions aimed at prevention (where health promotion is also included) must be a priority, because this raises the general health of the population at large. Prevention is much cheaper than recuperative health care.

Health and preventative care are aspects that any society takes into account in its planning and orthopaedic articles, braces and compression stockings are in widespread use.

However, they are often uncomfortable to wear. Because they are products that are used for long periods of time they need to be comfortable and breathable to prevent skin irritations, dryness and other problems arising from the fact that the skin underneath is not exposed to the air.

The present project aims to ensure that all of the prototypes have excellent breathability to prevent infections and promote good health. Another innovation is that the products maintain their properties over time even after washing, which currently-available articles do not.

OBJECTIVE

PREVENTEX is a research and development project undertaken by AITEX, which aims to investigate the development of articles for preventative health care to enable the Institute’s technicians to acquire knowledge in the field. Having completed a bibliographic search including patents and current knowledge, we will work with different materials, structures and technologies to develop non-marketable prototypes, which will be validated and certified during the project with the aim of transferring all the information gathered to companies in the Valencian Community: thus the main objectives of the project are the following:

• Research and develop different textile substrates combining materials, structures and weaving technologies. Fundamental aspects to be considered will include the resilience of 3D structures, thermal properties, breathability, compression elasticity and strength, coupled with skin moisturising for orthopaedic applications.
• Validate these new textile solutions for orthopaedic applications (immobilisation, restraint and cushioning), with enhanced breathability and comfort, in line with market standards.
• Validate the new compression textile solutions for the prevention and treatment of vascular pathologies, improving their comfort properties (breathability) and life cycle.
• Develop creative designs and the personalisation of these types of products.

EXPECTED RESULTS

The present project, as has been commented above, works within two fields of application (textile substrates for orthopaedic applications and compression fabrics).

While the expected results are different in both fields, it must be taken into account that they are two totally related areas and some of the results are applicable to both areas.

The results are very useful for companies in the orthopaedics sector, since they seek to improve the properties of current fabrics and enhance their innovative properties. Products in this field are typically mass-produced, with little or no thought given to design and customisation, therefore, a large part of the project’s work will be in these aspects.

Below is a more detailed summary of the expected results:

Expected results of the textile substrates for orthopaedic applications

• The creation of a range of orthopaedic immobilisation / restraint systems that remain in place and maintain breathability.
• Obtaining functionalised fabrics to be used as part of the textile structure with anti-odour, bactericidal and breathable properties.
• Obtaining textile substrates, either using finishing technology or by using yarns with skin-moisturisation properties.
• Personalisation and improvement of the designs of orthopaedic textile substrates.
• Development of textile substrates (three-dimensional “spacer” type tissues) that favour weight redistribution on the soles of the feet or reduce it in different pathologies or with patients requiring such treatment, and for people who spend most of their day standing up.
• Obtaining 3D fabrics whose porous structure gives them excellent breathability for use in orthopaedics for prevention and health.
• Obtaining textile substrates able to cushion impact and redistribute foot pressure, with high resistance to abrasion and a durability of 10 washes.

Expected results for compression fabrics

• Obtaining elastic fabrics using 3 different technologies: weaving, weft knitting and warp knitting to compare their relative performance and determine which ones adapt better to the different orthopaedic applications.
• Obtaining compression fabrics that will meet requirements for progressive compression and which maintain their performance for 30 washes.
• Personalisation and improvement of the design of textile substrates for compression fabrics.
• Obtaining textile substrates made with yarns with thermal comfort properties (breathability) that comply with European regulations for surgical stockings.

This Project is supported by the Conselleria d’Economia Sostenible, Sectors Productius i Treball, through the IVACE (Instituto Valenciano de Competitividad Empresarial) and is co-financed by ERDF from the EU within the framework of the Operational Programme FEDER for the Comunitat Valenciana 2014-2020.

GRANT NUMBER: IMDEEA/2018/114

AMOUNT: 189.069,99 €

Información adicional

• Año: 2018

• Estado: finalizado

• Entidad: IVACE

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