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US-20260125847-A1 - IMPREGNATION OF FABRIC FOR ADVANCED MECHANICAL, TRANSPORT, AND FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES

US20260125847A1US 20260125847 A1US20260125847 A1US 20260125847A1US-20260125847-A1

Abstract

A method includes a) impregnating a woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric with a silk fibroin solution. A method includes b) curing the silk fibroin solution, thereby forming the cured silk polymer matrix having the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric embedded therein. The fiber-reinforced polymer composite includes the cured polymer matrix in an amount by weight that is at least 25%, at least 50%, at least 75%, or at least 100% of the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric. The cured polymer matrix comprises silk fibroin in an amount by weight of at least 10%.

Inventors

  • Fiorenzo G. Omenetto
  • Elisabetta Ruggeri

Assignees

  • TRUSTEES OF TUFTS COLLEGE

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20250908

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method of making a fiber-reinforced polymer composite comprising a cured silk polymer matrix having a woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric embedded therein, the method comprising: a) impregnating a woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric with a silk fibroin solution; b) curing the silk fibroin solution, thereby forming the cured silk polymer matrix having the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric embedded therein, wherein the fiber-reinforced polymer composite comprises the cured silk polymer matrix in an amount by weight that is at least 25%, at least 50%, at least 75%, or at least 100% of the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric, wherein the cured silk polymer matrix comprises silk fibroin in an amount by weight of at least 10%.
  2. 2 . A method of making a fiber-reinforced silk polymer composite comprising a cured silk polymer matrix impregnating a woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric substrate, the method comprising: a) impregnating the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric substrate with a silk fibroin solution, the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric substrate having a native porosity of at least 50%, at least 60%, at least 70%, at least 80%, or at least 90%; b) curing the silk fibroin solution, thereby forming the cured silk polymer matrix within pores of the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric substrate and producing the fiber-reinforced silk polymer composite, wherein the fiber-reinforced silk polymer composite has a composite porosity that is at least 50% less than the native porosity of the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric substrate, wherein the cured silk polymer matrix comprises silk fibroin in an amount by weight of at least 10%.
  3. 3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the silk fibroin solution comprises silk fibroin in an amount by weight of between 0.1% and 30%.
  4. 4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric substrate and the silk fibroin solution are in a mold having a negative imprint of a shape during the curing of step b), the fiber-reinforced silk polymer composite thereby taking a solid form comprising at least a portion of the shape.
  5. 5 . (canceled)
  6. 6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the mold has a negative imprint of a micropattern, thereby providing the micropattern on at least a portion of a surface of the fiber-reinforced silk polymer composite.
  7. 7 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the impregnating of step a) is performed at an impregnating pressure of between 0.1 atm and 20 atm, between 0.2 atm and 10 atm, or between 0.5 atm and 5 atm, or at an impregnating pressure of 1 atm and/or at an impregnating temperature of between 4° C. and 50° C.
  8. 8 . (canceled)
  9. 9 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the curing of step b) is performed at a curing pressure of between 0.1 MPa and 50 MPa and/or at a curing temperature of between 18° C. and 250° C. and/or at a curing relative humidity of between 0% and 90%.
  10. 10 . (canceled)
  11. 11 . (canceled)
  12. 12 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the curing of step b) comprises drying at a curing temperature of between 100° C. and 150° C., a curing pressure of between 20 MPa and 30 MPa, and a curing relative humidity of between 20% and 40%.
  13. 13 . The method of claim 2 , the method further comprising micropatterning the fiber-reinforced silk polymer composite.
  14. 14 . The method of claim 2 , the method further comprising affixing an embedded functional sensing spot to the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric substrate prior to impregnating.
  15. 15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the affixing the embedded functional sensing spot comprises printing the embedded functional sensing spot from an embedded functional sensing ink.
  16. 16 . The method of claim 2 , the method further comprising affixing an exposed functional sensing spot to the fiber-reinforced silk polymer composite.
  17. 17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein affixing the exposed functional sensing spot comprises printing the exposed functional sensing spot from an exposed functional sensing ink.
  18. 18 . (canceled)
  19. 19 . A fiber-reinforced silk polymer composite comprising: a woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric substrate having a native porosity of at least 50%, at least 60%, at least 70%, at least 80%, or at least 90%; a cured silk polymer matrix impregnating the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric substrate, wherein the cured silk polymer matrix comprises silk fibroin in an amount by weight of at least 10%, wherein the fiber-reinforced silk polymer composite has a composite porosity that is at least 50% less than the native porosity of the woven, non-woven, or knitted fabric substrate.
  20. 20 - 23 .

Description

CLAIM TO PRIORITY This application claims benefit of and is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/US 2024/019386 (Attorney Docket. No. 2095.0597), filed Mar. 11, 2024, and entitled “IMPREGNATION OF FABRIC FOR ADVANCED MECHANICAL, TRANSPORT, AND FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES,” International Pub. No. WO2024/187188, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. International Patent Application No. PCT/US2024/019386 (Attorney Docket. No. 2095.0597) claims the benefit of the following provisional applications, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes: U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 63/489,362, filed Mar. 9, 2023; and U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 63/505,543, filed Jun. 1, 2023. STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH Not applicable. REFERENCE TO A SEQUENCE LISTING Not applicable. BACKGROUND The textile and clothing industry is estimated to produce 110 million tons of new textiles every year worldwide and, due to fast fashion, this production volume is constantly increasing together with the generation of textile waste. Globally, textile waste generation amounts to 92 million tons per year—with 17 million tons generated in the US alone—and it is expected to reach 134 million tons by 2030. Despite 95% of textile waste could be reused and recycled, just 15% of it is actually recovered from the waste stream thus making the textile and clothing industry one of the biggest contributors to the generation of a huge amount of waste and green house emission. More specifically, textile production is the second most polluting industry in the world—after the oil industry—accounting for 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse emissions and by 2050 it is estimated it will use up to 25% of the world's carbon budget. In this context, there is an increasing need for strategies that tackle the adverse effects of the textile and clothing industry on the environment and that promote the recovery of textile waste from the landfills giving it a second life through circular economy approaches. This disclosure is focused on the impregnation of fabric using silk fibroin solution in order to impart new advanced properties that broaden the field of application of fabric with the aim of recycling and repurposing textile waste. To date, fabric functionalization has been widely used and has been focused on improving properties of fabric such as dyeability, wrinkle resistance, antimicrobial activity, flame retardancy and water resistance. Silk fibroin has been used in the context of fabric functionalization in combination with crosslinking agents to improve cotton wrinkle recovery, with antimicrobial agents to yield antimicrobial textile medical products and with silica nanoparticles to improve dyeability. After these functionalization procedures, fabrics undergo a squeezing and washing step to remove unbound silk fibroin. The interaction between silk fibroin and fabrics as well as its effect on the mechanical, transport and thermal properties is not investigated. In fact, the functionalization of textiles targets the improvement of the performances of new pristine fabric within the textile and clothing industry to fulfil costumer's needs in specific conditions (e.g., personal protective equipment, technical sport clothing) but does not explore fabric recycling and repurpose in other industries. Additionally, functionalized textiles are designed to gain specific functional properties without losing their comfort by compromising their softness and breathability. As a consequence, the enhancement of mechanical properties, barrier properties and shapeability has not been the target of fabric functionalization, which is not meant to expand the applicability of fabrics beyond the textile and clothing industry. On the other hand, textiles have been employed as reinforcement in the fabrication of composite materials. In particular, the interest in natural fiber-reinforced composites is rapidly increasing due to their eco-friendly nature, low cost, biodegradability, light weight, and good mechanical properties which enabled their commercial application in the automotive and construction industries. Fiber-reinforced composites show different properties based on fiber geometries and length: discontinuous fibers, continuous aligned fibers and woven or knitted fabrics. Discontinuous randomly oriented fibers offer the advantage of yielding isotropic materials but require carefully designed dispersion techniques to avoid aggregation. Continuous aligned fibers provide maximum tensile strength in the parallel direction to fibers but require complicated fabrication techniques to ensure aligning. Composites with fabrics are easier to fabricate and can be used to obtain quasi-isotropic materials. Fabric reinforcements have been used in the aforementioned industries to improve the mechanical properties of polymeric, ceramic, or cementitious materials as well as in the packaging indu