ARIS-J2-70109

Title Sustainable yarn manufacturing technologies with high-performance passive cooling for thermal comfort management
Area Engineering sciences and technologies: Chemical engineering, Textile and leather
Materials engineering: Chemistry, Materials, Mechanics, Textile and leather
Presentation illustration
Duration 1. 3. 2026 – 28. 2. 2029
Funding 450.000 EUR
Sub-project head Prof. Dr. Vanja Kokol https://cris.cobiss.net/ecris/si/sl/researcher/8756
Participating organizations BETI textile industry d.o.o. https://www.beti.si/en/
IOS d.o.o. https://ios.si/en/home-2/
Objectives This project aims to develop novel platform technology for the production of thermally conductive and solar reflective PES and PA6 filament yarns by interface-integrated (low-cost, non-toxic, skin-safe) hexagonal-nanostructured boron nitride (hBN) of high thermal stability, superior in-plane thermal conductivity, large refractive index, and a wide band gap to effectively reflect or scatter sunlight and brings favorable passive radiative cooling properties. This will be achieved by (i) appropriate exfoliation and dispersing of different hBNs, and their integration in filament outer-surface structure using existing and incorporating more advanced technological processes, i.e. during (ii) draw-texturing phase, (iii) batch-exhaustion processing performed on pre-textured and/or differently-twisted filament yarns, (iv) spraying and near-infrared (NIR) radiation drying as economically and ecologically more acceptable alternative to conventional oven-curing. Plasma pre-treatment will be included to enhance the adhesion and orientation of hBNs. The fundamental thermal transport mechanisms will be evaluated by developing and validating a numerical model that will allow further optimization of the filament nanostructure design for their better performance. The influence of both yarn and fabric constructional parameters will be addressed to further increase cooling efficacy. A representative technology will be assessed by sustainability (LCA).
Specific phases and stage of realization
  • Determine how to chemically design and colloidally disperse hBNs to accelerate and control their deposition on plasma pretreated PES/PA6 filaments during processing to control their orientation, adhesion and interface integration.
  • Systematically control the parameters of filaments (from draw-texturing and twisting to finishing) to understand the changes in thermal transport mechanisms in terms of filament morphology and crystallinity, as well as topography and surface chemistry.
  • Evaluate the efficacy of filaments functionalization by co-using of US during bath-exhaustion or NIR radiation after spraying as faster, eco-friendly, and energy-less intensive processes.
  • Utilize these data in developing and validating a numerical model by machine learning to predict the hBNs interface integration, and proposed design of filament yarns structure for optimal performance.
  • Determine how to fabricate thermally conducting filament yarns and/or construct knitted fabric that would additionally or complementary to the finishing process contribute to the surface self-cooling activity under direct sunlight.
Bibliographic references Articles
Scientific conference contributions