Synthesis Of Silica Aerogel Incorporated PP Nonwoven Fabric Composite

Textiles perform the significant role of protecting humans from extreme climatic circumstances.They have to provide a combination of thermal insulation and physiological comfort.Heat insulation is an essential parameter for providing comfort to the individual wearing the apparel.The thermal properties of textiles define the mixture of fibers,air and moisture.In recent times,sustainable ecofriendly thermo-insulation materials which is light weight,flexible and mechanically robust have grabbed worldwide remark.The aim of this research contribution is to explore the application potential of silica aerogel on polypropylene(PP)nonwoven fabrics for thermal protection.In this research,silica aerogel/polypropylene(PP)nonwoven fabric composite with desirable properties was synthesized via a two step sol-gel process through immersing the PP nonwoven fabric into silica sol.After in situ gelation,Silica aerogel-PP Nonwoven Fabric composite gel was hydrophobized with trimethylchlorosilane(TMCS)and hexamethyldisilazane(HMDZ)mixture solution,and the composites were dried in ambient pressure drying method and pad dry cure method to replace the pore liquid with air while maintaining the solid network.Silica aerogels were distributed inside the PP nonwoven fabric as a composite to perform as a supporting skeleton which increased the mechanical property of the silica aerogels.FTIR,Brunauer–Emmett–Teller(BET),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),DSC,TGA were used for the characterization of the untreated PP nonwoven fabric and Silica aerogel/PP nonwoven fabric composites.The contact angle and heat conducting performance of the composites were also determined.The samples were also physically characterized by fabric thickness and weight measurement.In synthesized silica aerogel/PP nonwoven fabric composite by ambient pressure dried sample;surface area,pore size and pore volume were 15.89 m~2/g,12.3123 nm and 0.0489cm~3/mg respectively and for pad dry cured sample:69.74 m~2/g,5.3682 nm and 0.0936 cm~3/g respectively.Physical characterization showed that the weight and thickness of fabric increased after the integration of silica aerogel particle.Moreover,the uniform deposition of silica aerogel particles was efficiently covered the surface of the PP non-woven fabric and completely filled the micron size pores of the nonwoven fabric leading to a stronger hydrophobicity.The contact angle of untreated pp nonwoven fabric was 114 ~owhich was increase to 129 ~o for ambient pressure dried and 133 ~o for pad dry cured sample after incorporating silica aerogel in the pp nonwoven fabric.Prepared silica aerogel/pp non-woven fabric showed higher thermal insulation performance.Heat transfer coefficient of the untreated PP nonwoven fabric was 68.64 W/m~2 C which reduced to 50.04 W/m~2 C for ambient pressure drying and 48.5 W/m~2 C for pad dye cured sample.Heat preservation rate for sample untreated PP nonwoven fabric was 25.3 which was increased to 30.3%for ambient pressure drying and 32.1%for pad dye cured sample.Clo values for the untreated PP nonwoven fabric,Silica Aerogel/PP Nonwoven fabric Composite by ambient pressure drying and pad dye cured samples were 0.09,0.12 and 0.13 respectively.The findings of this research are significant and can be utilized in current industrial development and useful for further scientific research in silica aerogel incorporated nonwoven fabrics.