paltex-eco issue-2013

INNOVATION NEWSLETTER 2012.09
BIONIC-FINISH® ECO offers
Security to manufacturers -
for protecting their textiles and brands.
The RUDOLF GROUP has made every effort to eliminate these byproducts
and has succeeded in developing PFOS* and PFOA*-free fluorocarbon
water repellents with the so-called C6-generation.
Despite these efforts, what is decisive for all parts of the textile chain,
especially for brand manufacturers, is how public and consumers will in future react to this product optimisation.
The entirely fluorocarbon-free BIONIC-FINISH®ECO will open up new perspectives to the clothing sector.
With BIONIC-FINISH®ECO we have succeeded in developing water-repellent finishes that
do NOT release fluoro-organic compounds.
Efficient
Realising natural functions and implementing them effectively
Why do the feathers of birds not become wet
Why does this type of water repellency in nature work without perfluorinated compounds
The RUDOLF GROUP replies to these questions by means of the scientific branch Bionic.
It is not the sense of Bionic to just imitate nature, but to realise the functional principles
of natural systems and to transfer them to independent technical solutions.
The basic idea of BIONIC-FINISH®ECO is the use of hyperbranched polymers,
so-called dendrimers (Greek: dendron = tree); nature has served as a model for their ramified structure.
Trees require the energy of light for photosynthesis, which they absorb from their leaves.
The optimum surrounding, i.e. a large number of functional elements per volume in the treetop,
enables high energy yield. This structure has been adopted for developing a water repellent,
and a hyperbranched structure with a maximum density of hydrophobic functional elements
per unit volume was synthetised.
There is no actual advantage, neither for
Consumers nor the Environment.
Ecological Data
In principle, (bio)degradability is given, but, according to the OECD test methods,
®RUCO-DRY ECO cannot be called readily biodegradable.
Since the polymeric ingredients are maintained and are to be effective
beyond the life-span of the article finished with it, this is quite reasonable.
Neither are polyester fibres „readily biodegradable“,
but they can nevertheless be recycled without hesitation or are biodegradable in the medium-term.
®RUCO-DRY ECO meets the EU-REACH-Standard.
Intelligent self-organisation for
optimum water-repellent effects
Dendrimers can be produced step by step by combining multifunctional components.
With each synthetic step of these hyperbranched polymers the number of reactive
end groups grows exponentially. The specific control of reactions enables to functionalise
end groups with hydrophobic residues at the end of a series of synthetic steps,
which results in an extreme density of water-repellent groups. These hyperbranched,
hydrophobic polymers are highly efficient and, due to their network structure,
tend to self-organise and crystallise. For optimum orientation and attaching to the fibre surface,
®RUCO-DRY ECO, the finishing product of BIONIC-FINISH®ECO, does not only use dendrimers
but also specifically adjusted “comb“ polymers. The water-repellent effect level obtained in initial
textile finishing has so far only been possible with fluorocarbon polymers.
© 2012, PALTEX COMPANY LTD.