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Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Gourd fibres (GF) are a natural biodegradable fibre material with excellent mechanical properties and high tensile strength. The use of natural fibres in composite materials has gained popularity in recent years due to their various advantages, including renewability, low cost, low density and biodegradability. Gourd fibre is one such natural fibre that has been identified as a potential reinforcement material for composites. However, it has low surface energy and hydrophobic nature, which makes it difficult to bond with matrix materials such as polyester. To overcome this problem, chemically adapted gourd fibre has been proposed as a solution. Chemical treatment is one of the most widely used methods to improve the properties of natural fibres. This research evaluates the feasibility and effectiveness of incorporating chemically adapted gourd fibre into polyester composites for industrial fabrication. The purpose of this study is to examine the application of chemically modified GF in the production of polyester composite engineering materials.

This work aims to evaluate the effectiveness of chemically adapted gourd fibre in improving the adhesion of gourd fibre with polyester resin in composite fabrication by varying the GF from 5 to 20 wt.%. The study involves the preparation of chemically treated gourd fibre through surface modification using sodium hydroxide (NaOH), permanganate (KMnO₄) and acetic acid (CH₃COOH) coupling agents. The mechanical properties of the modified fibre and composites were investigated. It was then characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to determine the changes in surface morphology and functional groups.

FTIR characterization showed that NaOH treatment caused cellulose depolymerization and caused a significant increase in the hydroxyl and carboxyl groups, showing improved surface functional groups; KMnO₄ treatment oxidized the fibre surface and caused the formation of surface oxide groups; and acetic acid treatment induced changes that primarily affected the ester and hydroxyl groups. SEM study showed that NaOH treatment changed the surface morphology of the gourd fibre, introduced voids and reduced hydrophilic tendencies. The tensile strength of the modified gourd fibres increased progressively as the concentration of the modification chemicals increased compared to the untreated fibres.

This work presents the designed composite with density, mechanical properties and microstructure, showing remarkable improvements in the engineering properties. An 181.5% improvement in tensile strength and a 56.63% increase in flexural strength were got over that of the unreinforced polyester. The findings from this work will contribute to the understanding of the potential of chemically adapted gourd fibre as a reinforcement material for composites and provide insights into the development of sustainable composite materials.

Examines the ninth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

This paper aims to clarify the friction properties of 304 steel surface modification. The surface modification includes laser texturing processing and nitriding treatment on 304 steel surface, and then the friction properties’ test was conducted on different friction directions and different upper test samples by using microfriction and wear testing machine.

The diameter and spacing of 100-, 150-, 200-, 300-μm pit array on the surface of 304 steel were calculated using a M-DPSS-50 semiconductor laser device. Then, the textured surface was nitriding-treated using a nitriding salt bath device. The chemical composition, surface morphology and surface microhardness of the composite-modified surface were measured by X-ray diffraction and by using an optical microscope and a microhardness tester. The tribological characteristics of the composite-modified surface were tested by MRTR microcomputer-controlled multifunctional friction and wear testing machine.

The result showed that a rule pit texture surface was obtained by the texture processing. The microhardness of nitriding treatment surface reached 574.27HV0.1, which significantly higher than 222.58HV0.1 of 304 steel. The composite-modified surface has excellent anti-friction and wear resistance properties when the upper specimen was GCr15 steel and ZrO2, respectively. The composite-modified surface has excellent anti-friction and anti-wear properties after long time friction under different angles. However, the friction coefficient and wear morphology of the friction pairs are not affected by the friction angle.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

The paper conducted a systematic study of the tribological characteristics of 304 steel composite modification surface and provided a good basis for the extensive application of 304 steel.

The study provides a good basis for the extensive application of 304 steel.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study the extensive application of 304 steel.

The purpose of this paper is to generate nitrogen-containing groups in the cotton fabric surface via low-temperature nitrogen plasma as an eco-friendly physical/zero-effluent process. This was done for rendering cotton dye-able with Acid Blue 284, which in fact does not have any direct affinity to fix on it.

Dyeing characteristics of the samples such as color strength (K/S), fastness properties to light, rubbing and perspiration and durability, as well as tensile strength, elongation at break, whiteness, weight loss and wettability in addition to zeta potential of the dyed samples, were determined and compared with untreated fabric. Confirmation and characterization of the plasma-treated samples via chemical modifications and zeta potential was also studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Malvern Zetasizer instrumental analysis.

The obtained results of the plasma-treated fabric reflect the following findings: FTIR results indicate the formation of nitrogen-containing groups on cotton fabrics; notable enhancement in the fabric wettability, zeta potential to more positive values and improvement in the dyeability and overall fastness properties of treated cotton fabrics in comparison with untreated fabric; the tensile strength, elongation at break, whiteness and weight % of the plasma treated fabrics are lower than that untreated one; and the durability of the plasma treated fabric decreased with increasing the number of washing cycles.

The novelty addressed here is rendering cotton fabrics dye-able with acid dye via the creation of new cationic nitrogen-containing groups on their surface via nitrogen plasma treatment as an eco-friendly and efficient tool with a physical/zero-effluent process.

A series of polyurethane/bishydroxyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane composites (PU/BTPDMS) were prepared. The effect of BTPDMS content on the tribological properties of the PU/BTPDMS composites was studied. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The composites were prepared by a pre-polymer method. The properties were measured with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). The friction and wear characteristic of the composites were examined with MRH-3 friction-abrasion testing machine. The worn surfaces of the composites were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Experimental results indicated that the polyurethane modified with 7 percent BTPDMS had better tribological property than pure PU and other PU/BTPDMS composites in the present study. It exhibits lower coefficient of friction (COF) and lower wear rate value, especially under water lubrication.

The polyurethane was synthesized by a pre-polymer method combination with chemical modification.

The surface characteristics of thermally and chemically modified wood, such as surface roughness, surface free energy (SFE) and wettability, are important properties that influence further manufacturing processes such as gluing and coating. The aim of this paper was to determine the influence of the surface roughness of thermally and chemically modified teak wood on their SFE, wettability and bonding quality for water-based acrylic and solvent-based alkyd varnishes. In addition, durability against subterranean termites in the field of these modified teak woods was also investigated to give a valuable information for their further application.

The woods tested in this study were fast-growing teak woods that were prepared in untreated and treated with furfuryl alcohol (FA), glycerol maleic anhydride (GMA) and thermal. SFE values were calculated using the Rabel method. The wettability values were measured based on the contact angle between varnish liquids and wood surfaces using the sessile drop method, and the Shi and Gardner model model was used to evaluate the wettability of the varnishes on the wood surface. The bonding quality of the varnishes was measured using a cross-cut test based on ASTM 3359-17 standard. In addition, durability against subterranean termites in the field of these modified teak woods was also investigated according to ASTM D 1758-06.

The results showed that furfurylated and GMA-thermal 220°C improved the durability of teak wood against termites. The furfurylated teak wood had the roughest surface with an arithmetic average roughness (Ra) value of 15.65 µm before aging and 27.11 µm after aging. The GMA-thermal 220°C treated teak wood was the smoothest surface with Ra value of 6.44 µm before aging and 13.75 µm after aging. Untreated teak wood had the highest SFE value of 46.90 and 57.37 mJ/m² before and after aging, respectively. The K values of untreated and treated teak wood increased owing to the aging treatment. The K values for the water-based acrylic varnish were lower than that of the solvent-based alkyd varnish. The untreated teak wood with the highest SFE produced the highest bonding quality (grades 4–5) for both acrylic and alkyd varnishes. The solvent-based alkyd varnish was more wettable and generated better bonding quality than the water-based acrylic varnish.

The originality of this research work is that it provides evaluation values of the durability and SFE. The SFE value can be used to quantitatively determine the wettability of paint liquids on the surface of wood and its varnish bonding quality.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effects of hydrochloric acid (HCl), hydrazine, methyl methacrylate, styrene and hexamethyldisiloxane by radio-frequency (rf) plasma graftings on surface properties of wool and denim fabrics.

During plasma treatments, processing time was varied under optimized plasma conditions (50 W, rf: 13.56 MHz). All fabrics were comprehensively investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and contact angle measurements.

The experimental data shows that the rf-plasma processing has important effect on the wettability properties of wool and denim fabrics. The results indicated that HCl plasma treatment significantly improves the hydrophilicity of wool and denim fabrics.

The research on wool and denim fabric treatment by plasma is original.

Here, diazo coupling reaction was imparted on chemically inert lignin isolated from natural resources. Activated lignin was coupled with the diazotised aniline, m-nitroaniline, p-nitroaniline-, and p-anisidine gives organic pigments.

The continuous increase in particle size of pigments confirms addition of diazotised salt to lignin by coupling reaction. Further, the dispersing ability of these coloured pigments were exploited in polymer matrix. Epoxy-polyamine cross linking system was doped with difference percentage of pigments and coated on mild steel metal surface. The morphology of these composites was understood by SEM, particle size, differential scanning calorimeter and thermo gravimetric analysis.

The synthesised organic pigments were characterised by FT-IR, ¹H NMR and UV-visible spectroscopy. It was observed that hiding power of aniline- and m-nitroaniline–based azo pigments was more than p-nitroaniline- and p-anisidine–based azo pigments. Thermal properties as well as water contact angles of coatings were improved with pigment concentration. The chemical resistivity of coating was observed to be improved with the increasing % of lignin-based azo pigment.

Lignin-based azo pigment has great potential to replace metal oxide pigment and provide strategy for utilisation of lingo-cellulosic biowaste material.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate straw modification by chemical degradation generated by two forms of pretreatment, using citric acid in an autoclave and urea solution with sodium hydroxide at low temperature.

The material was digested and compared in biodigester reactors lined with natural straw, straw pretreated with citric acid, straw pretreated with urea and NaOH, and straw subjected to both the pretreatments. The amount of straw has been delimited to 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 percent v/v, and used 20 percent v/v inoculum in all reactors, consisting of 30 percent v/v poultry litter and 70 percent swine wastewater (SW). The experiment was conducted in an incubator kept in mesophilic conditions (35°C).

The results indicate significant change in the studied material, with degradation of lignin as well as hemicellulose and cellulose exposed to further hydrolysis. Spectrophotometric methods were used for monitoring degradation. These methods were efficient in monitoring changes caused by the treatments. When the proposed pretreatments are applied to sugarcane straw, there is a significant gain in biogas production (L g VSR⁻¹). The most appropriate rates for higher methane production in the pretreatments are 2.5 and 5 percent straw-SW. The best results for the anaerobic digestion of sugarcane straw were obtained by pretreating it with citric acid.

This paper shows a new use for the sugarcane straw waste after being pretreated with acid or base for the coproduction of biogas.