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  1. Issues
  2. March 2013

March 2013

Haemostatic dressing comprising extracts of camomile and nettle

1 March 2013
A haemostatic dressing comprising extracts of the flowers of pharmaceutical camomile (Chamomilla recutita) and the leaves of dioecious nettle (Urtica dioica) is described in US Patent 8 349 356.
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Silica nanofibres for composites

1 March 2013
UK-based research aimed at developing the strongest silica nanofibres in the world is attracting interest from composite manufacturers in the aviation, marine and safety markets.
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A single hip-point mannequin for all international standards

1 March 2013
A hip-point mannequin (see also, page 12) that complies with the requirements of all three of the international standards used to determine the safety and comfort of drivers and passengers in automobi
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Sewing threads and zips kill bed bugs

1 March 2013
Sewing threads and zips can now be treated with an agent that is fatal to bed bugs, but harmless to humans and pets, according to the chemical's UK-based developer.
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Surface waves create personal networks

1 March 2013
UK researchers are developing a way to exploit a physical phenomenon, known as Zenneck surface waves, as a method for transmitting large amounts of data between wearable devices.
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Structure of polyester fabric designed to trap pollen

1 March 2013
Polyester (PES) fabrics developed by Teijin Frontier Co Ltd for use in lace curtains can trap twice as much pollen as existing products, claims the company based in Osaka, Japan.
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Smart textiles in defence applications

1 March 2013
Suppliers of smart materials, including textiles that incorporate electronics, have until 12 April 2013 to respond to a call for research proposals issued by the UK Government's Ministry of Defence (M
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Permanently self-cleaning yarns

1 March 2013
A super-hydrophobic filament yarn with a permanent, built-in self-cleaning effect is the result of collaboration between three German organizations.
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Starlinger opens office in Asia

1 March 2013
A growing market for woven packaging in South-east Asia has prompted Starlinger GmbH to open an office in Surabaya, Indonesia.
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Filtrona targets market for cigarette filters in Middle East/Africa

1 March 2013
Filtrona plc of Milton Keynes, UK, has formed a joint venture with one of India's leading producers of tobacco products and by-products, BBM Bommidala of Guntur.
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Conference aims to address problems faced by recyclers

1 March 2013
The implementation of legislation such as the latest version of Germany's Closed Substance Cycle Act, which came into force on 1 June 2012, is confronting the textile recycling industry with a number
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Saudi Basic Industries and Solvay among investors in production technology for nanofibres

1 March 2013
The USA-based developer of a unique technology, called Forcespinning, for producing nanofibres says it has won funding worth US$13 million, which will allow it to fulfil a growing number of orders, an
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Domestic washing machines sufficient to keep dentists and patients safe

1 March 2013
Researchers in Germany have determined that laundering at 60degC in a domestic washing machine is sufficient to ensure the hygiene of protective garments worn by dentists and their staff, subject to a
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Washable yarn can contain integrated microelectronics

1 March 2013
Researchers in the UK have created a machinewashable prototype garment that has lightemitting diodes (LEDs) embedded within the cores of its yarns.
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Absorbent article sub-layer improves faeces management

1 March 2013
An absorbent article, such as a diaper (10) or training pants, with improved faeces management has been developed by Procter & Gamble.
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Carbon nanotube fibres with high thermal and electrical conductivities

1 March 2013
Carbon nanotube (CNT) fibres with high thermal and electrical conductivities and good textile performance could find application in the medical industry.
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US demand for nonwovens to exceed $7 billion in 2016

1 March 2013
US demand for nonwovens is forecast to rise 5.7% per year to $7.1 billion in 2016, following higher unit area demand and an increase in the average price that will result in part from a shift in the p
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Bolton University conducts research into artificial tendons

1 March 2013
Researchers at the UK's University of Bolton are developing artificial fibres that could be used to repair or replace injured human tendons, which are commonly damaged in sports or other forms of phys
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Protective gown with elastomeric fibrous sleeves

1 March 2013
Kimberly-Clark has developed a protective garment, such as a surgical gown (10), for use with gloves.
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Nonwoven fabric with improved fluid-handling properties

1 March 2013
A nonwoven fabric with improved fluid-handling properties has been developed by Unicharm.
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Self-adhesive bandage with photodynamically sanitized absorbent pad

1 March 2013
A Band-Aid-type self-adhesive bandage that is claimed to sanitize against airborne pathogens during application is described in US Patent 8 372 128 by an inventor from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
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Dressing maintains a moist healing environment for treating bedsores

1 March 2013
An improved wound dressing that both treats a wound and maintains a moist environment to promote healing has been developed by Zuiko.
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Garment with means for affixing a glove

1 March 2013
An alternative solution to the problem of breaching a sterile barrier between a surgical glove and a sleeve of a single-use surgical gown is disclosed in US Patent 8 341 768 by Molnlycke Health Care.
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Mesh for hernia repair avoids damage to internal organs

1 March 2013
An improved surgical mesh for the repair of incisional or ventral hernia is disclosed in US Patent 8 343 231 by George Christoudias of Teaneck, New Jersey, USA.
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Carbon fibre-reinforced graphite for lightweight heat treatments

1 March 2013
Strong, stiff graphite that is reinforced with unidirectional carbon fibre is now available under the trade name of Sigrabond Performance from SGL Group of Wiesbaden, Germany.
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Curtains for pollen with new polyester fabric

1 March 2013
Teijin Frontier, the Teijin Group's fibre-product converting company, has developed a new polyester curtain fabric that traps double the amount of pollen as conventional polyester curtain fabric, help
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China patent protection for Alexium

1 March 2013
The Chinese patent office has granted Alexium's patent, 'Method for Attachment of Silicon-containing Compounds to a Surface and for Synthesis of Hypervalent Silicon-compounds' (Chinese Patent Applicat
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Grand Award for Teijin

1 March 2013
Japan's Teijin has produced the world's first 300-700 nm ultra-fine polyester nanofibre based on proprietary bicomponent technology.
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Fibre that changes colour when stretched

1 March 2013
The bright iridescent blue colour of a tropical plant's fruit were the inspiration for a new fibre that changes colour when stretched, developed by a collaborative team of researchers at Harvard Unive
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Fashion designer goes mobile

1 March 2013
Samsung Electronics has teamed up with New York-based designer Alexander Wang to create a textile print inspired by crowd-sourced sketches and images using the Galaxy Note II smartphone.
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PFC-free alternative for breathable membranes

1 March 2013
Outdoor clothing can be made waterproof and highly breathable with ultrathin membranes made from Arnitel VT from DSM.
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Actuator with finger-like flex

1 March 2013
An elegant and powerful new microscale actuator that can flex like a finger has been developed by researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Berkeley Lab and the University of California, Berkeley
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Silica for super-composites

1 March 2013
Research into developing the strongest silica nanofibres in the world is being pioneered at the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) in the UK, with plans for their use in
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Filament yarns with integrated self cleaning

1 March 2013
Working with the Institute for Textile Technology and Process Engineering (ITV) and the Institute of Textile Chemistry and Chemical Fibers (ITCF), both in Denkendorf, Germany, TWD Fibres GmbH has deve
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Multi-purpose prevention with nanofibre webs

1 March 2013
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a University of Washington research team almost US$1 million to further develop the technology for employing nanofibre nonwovens to simultaneously bot
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Energy storage textiles showcased at Techtextil 2013

1 March 2013
Intelligent or smart textiles are increasingly incorporating additional energy and heat functions to improve the sustainability of products, says Messe Frankfurt, organiser of the Techtextil trade sho
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Combined airbag and seatbelt from Autoliv

1 March 2013
The Bag-in-belt is a combined seatbelt and airbag designed to further reduce the load on a car rear-seat occupant's ribcage in the event of a frontal collision.
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Losing the loops in polymer chains

1 March 2013
As long chains of repeating molecules, networks of polymers - both synthetics as natural products such as rubber and cellulose - all contain structural flaws at the molecular level.
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Filament yarns with integrated self cleaning

1 March 2013
Working with the Institute for Textile Technology and Process Engineering (ITV) and the Institute of Textile Chemistry and Chemical Fibers (ITCF), both in Denkendorf, Germany, TWD Fibres GmbH has deve
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Smart Fabrics 2013

1 March 2013
Adidas, MC10, Pebble Technology, Eeonyx Corporation, IDEO, and Philips Lighting are among leading players making presentations at the ninth Smart Fabrics conference which will be held at the Hyatt at
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Thin film solar cells set new record

1 March 2013
Thin film solar cells on flexible polymer foils with a new record efficiency of 20.4% have been developed at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology.
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Silk protein for stable vaccine transport

1 March 2013
Vaxess Technologies, a Cambridge-based company founded by students from across Harvard University has received $70,000 to support its plan to commercialise new technology that uses silk to stabilise r
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Body armour at the next level

1 March 2013
In collaboration with European Special Forces, TenCate Advanced Armour has developed a new generation of ultra lightweight portable anti-ballistic shields, designed to provide personnel with the best
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Composing the score for spider's silk

1 March 2013
Research by MIT's Markus Buehler has helped explain that the strength of spider silk arises from its unusual hierarchical arrangement of protein building blocks.
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New blends of Kevlar and Nomex in Lion ranges

1 March 2013
DuPont and Lion have collaborated on a new clothing range for firefighters and first responders - the first to feature advanced blends of Kevlar filament, Kevlar staple and Nomex fibre.
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Surface waves for personal networks

1 March 2013
The phenomenon of 'Zenneck surface waves' is being tipped as an effective new method for developing smart clothing that will allow wearable devices to effectively transmit large amounts of data betwee
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Actuator with finger-like flex

1 March 2013
An elegant and powerful new microscale actuator that can flex like a finger has been developed by researchers at the US Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab and the University of California, Berkeley.
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Nanofibre production at lower consumption

1 March 2013
A new system for spinning nanofibres that should offer significant productivity increases while drastically reducing power consumption is being developed by Luis Velasquez-Garcia and his team at MIT's
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Lighting up London Fashion Week

1 March 2013
A highly-stylised shoe by one of the fashion world's brightest new names literally lit up the recent London Fashion Week as a result of collaborative work with De Montfort University in Leicester.
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New nonwoven biomedical range

1 March 2013
US BioDesign launched its new nonwoven biomedical component range at the Medical Design and Manufacturing West Trade Show in Anaheim, California (February 12-15).
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