科学家最近创建了由聚乙烯制成的纺织织物 - 塑料杂货袋以及许多其他日常用品的聚合物，以减少塑料污染并使时尚行业更具可持续性。
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineer, Svetlana Boriskina, who worked on the project, said in an MIT news release that plastic bags that nobody wants can be repurposed into high-performance fabrics with a low environmental footprint.
The researchers say that textiles made from these fabrics can be used across the fashion industry, from high-end fashion to sportswear and utility clothing.
根据发表在自然的可持续性。不仅如此，它在生命的尽头也可以有效地回收。
Achieving Wicking in a Plastic Fabric
The researchers found that powdering and extruding polyethylene fibers slightly oxidized the material. This changed its surface energy, making the material weakly hydrophilic. In this way, plastic could be made to attract water molecules to its surface.
In a second extrusion step, the team bunched multiple polyethylene fibers together into a weavable yarn. This changed the material’s hydrophilic properties again. Spaces between fibers in a strand of yarn created capillaries that water molecules could be passively absorbed through.
After discovering this wicking ability, the researchers modeled the fibers’ properties in a computer. They found that the material’s wicking ability was affected by the diameter and alignment of fibers throughout the yarn.
该建模帮助团队创建了针对芯吸性能优化并将其放置在工业织机上的聚乙烯纱线。然后，他们使用织机将塑料纱线编织成织物。
The new fabric’s wicking ability was tested against cotton, nylon, and polyester alternatives. Strips of each fabric were dipped in water, and the team measured how long it took for moisture to wick up each strip. Another test involved weighing the fabric over time to see how long it took for an applied water droplet to wick through the fabric and evaporate.
In all tests, the new polyethylene fabrics performed better than the common alternatives.
芯吸塑料织物确实通过反复润湿失去了一些芯吸能力。但是，研究人员发现，仅仅施加摩擦或将材料暴露于紫外线将其恢复到亲水状态。Boriskina指出，您只需要对自己的材料摩擦即可恢复其芯吸能力。
Is the New Technique Scalable?
Polyethylene is ubiquitous. It is discovered everywhere from plastic bags to food packaging and is often used in single-use applications and discarded. In other words, feedstock for the plastic fabric production process discovered by MIT researchers is abundant.
在第二次挤出过程后创建的纱线可以用于行业标准的大规模织机。
根据工程师的说法，他们创造的纺织品是丝般柔滑的，窗帘很好，穿着舒适。至关重要的是，它还比棉花，尼龙和聚酯等广泛使用的材料更好地使水从皮肤上脱离皮肤。欧洲杯足球竞彩
阿迪达斯如何将塑料瓶变成鞋子
在时装行业中使用更多替代塑料袋。视频信用：Tech Insider/YouTube.com
Manufacturers will note that fibers can be easily dyed in any color before they are woven into yarns and fabrics.
Consumers will note that it can be washed in cold water. This means clothes made from the material – which researchers say has a smaller manufacturing and distribution carbon footprint than typical alternatives – are even more sustainable.
As well as immediate possible applications in sportswear (sneakers, base layers, and so on), researchers also say that their repurposed plastic bags could be used in a high-performance space suit, capable of protecting people from cosmic radiation in outer space.
塑料袋衣服会赶上吗？
时装业是全球最污染的行业之一。制造纺织品会消耗大量的水 - 通常在稀缺和劳动力廉价的地区，同时产生数百万吨的废物。不仅如此，每年时装行业最多可达10％的全球温室气体排放。
This is just in the manufacturing and distribution of clothing. Once bought, clothes continue to consume large amounts of energy and water in the laundry. Depending on the method of production, this can even exceed the manufacturing and distribution costs of fashion.
Researchers say that their polyethylene fabric has a smaller environmental impact over their whole life cycle than either cotton or nylon.
The comfort properties of the material – drapability, wicking performance, skin-touch feel – can help to ensure that it is accepted by manufacturers, retailers, and consumers.
In fact, these properties are possibly more important than their environmental credentials. For many in the fashion industry, the plastic fabric still has to overcome public perceptions of being uncomfortable to really take hold – no matter the environmental benefits.
参考和进一步阅读
Alberghini, M.等。(2021).可持续的聚乙烯织物，带有工程水分传输，用于被动冷却。自然的可持续性。Available at:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00688-5。
Briggs, H. (2021).Plastic bags recycled into fabric to fight pollution。BBC. Available at:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/欧洲杯线上买球science-environment-56404803。
Chu, J. (2021).Could we recycle plastic bags into fabrics of the future?MIT. Available at:https://news.mit.edu/2021/plastic-bags-recycle-fabrics-0315
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