Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel face mask prototype having a superabsorbent nanofibrous coating with a homogenous distribution. Design/methodology/approach Superabsorbent nanofibers were manufactured via electrospinning method using Poly(vinyl alcohol)/superabsorbent polymer (PVA/SAP) aqueous polymer solutions and they were simultaneously coated onto face masks in order to develop their virus protection and comfort properties. Absorbency, air permeability, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and SEM investigations were carried out for characterization. Findings SEM investigations revealed that face masks were homogenously coated with nanofibers. Picks obtained from FT-IR spectra proved that all mask samples have PVA/SAP content indicating their absorbent feature. Liquid absorption capacity and air permeability tests have shown that nanofiber coating increased the hydrophilicity of face masks while air permeability decreased in reverse. Final prototype has been found to be promising for industrial, scientific and medical applications with its improved protection and comfort characteristics. Research limitations/implications The implication of the research is to investigate the morphological, physical and transfer difference of face masks that are coated with nanofibers and uncoated face masks. This is useful in selection of the right face mask with optimum surface, absorbency and transfer properties. Originality/value Compared to commercial product in the market, the face mask developed within the study has a more regularly distributed nanofiber coating.

Unlike the term sound insulation, which means reducing the penetration of noise into other areas, sound absorption means reducing the reflection and energy of the sound on the surface. It has become a highly noticed issue in recent years because the noise in our daily life is increasing day by day, and it causes some health and comfort disorders. In many areas, textiles have been used for acoustics control and noise absorption purposes. The purpose of this work is to determine the most effective media for sound absorption performance and its relation to thermal conductivity from needle-punched nonwoven, meltblown nonwoven and hybrid forms in different arrangements of these fabrics. To provide comparable samples, both needle-punched nonwoven and meltblown nonwoven samples were produced from 100% Polypropylene fibres. According to sound absorption tests, the hybrid-structured sample having a composition similar to the needle-punched nonwoven sample placed at the bottom of our study, while the meltblown nonwoven sample placed as a face layer outperformed the rest of the samples in terms of sound absorption and thermal conductivity. ‘Meltblown only’ samples had remarkably higher sound absorption efficiency than most of the samples, while the ‘needle-punched nonwoven only’ sample had the lowest sound absorption efficiency in all frequencies.

Scientific explorations and research in the Antarctic region have specific issues which need to be handled with special measures. Clothing of the scientists is one of the main problems. The clothes are expected to be enduring against compelling conditions and they must have certain features to ensure the safety and comfort of the scientists. Polar clothing is a field that is yet to be studied with different engineering approaches. To generate a better understanding, the polar clothing can be approached as a multiple criteria decision-making problem because many criteria such as layer number, material type, and waterproofness should be considered while evaluating the various alternatives. In this evaluation, expert judgments are used because no strict objective rules determine the conditions of the polar clothing. Also, possible influences among these criteria should be revealed and considered while reaching a decision. In order to deal with the uncertainty and vagueness of the expert judgments, this study proposes a Pythagorean fuzzy version of DEMATEL which is one of the well-known multiple criteria decision-making tools with the aim of evaluating the related selection attributes affecting the decision and searching for the potential influences among them. Since Pythagorean fuzzy sets provide a wider preference domain to the experts, this version was developed as a contribution to the literature. Also, the decision process is kept Pythagorean fuzzy until a conclusion is reached so that there is no early defuzzification problem. The method’s application on overcoat selection for the Antarctic region reveals the relations among attributes, such as “Water Vapor Permeability”, “All-Weather Protection” and “Performing Best in Dry/Wet State”. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to find the changes in influences.

In this study, it was aimed to produce nanofibers from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer using natural solvents such as rose water, rose extract and mate plant extract by the environmentally friendly electrospinning or green electrospinning technique in other words and it was also aimed to investigate the morphological properties of produced nanofibers. For this purpose, nanofibers having 7 different morphologies were produced from 4% PVA aqueous solutions. The morphologies of the produced nanofibers were analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As a result of these analyses, it was observed that uniform nanofiber morphology was formed in nanofiber productions made with distilled water, while in the others, dense bead structure was formed at low voltages and nanofiber morphology with reduced bead amount at high voltages was observed. In all electrospinning experiments, it was observed that the nanofibers were randomly collected on the collector plate. It was observed that the nanofibers obtained from the solutions prepared from solvents other than distilled water, especially the one from the mate plant extract, had a low bead structure and a smooth morphology. These results showed that environmentally friendly nanofibers can be produced from natural solvents by electrospinning technique and their morphological properties can be improved via modification in process conditions. It is thought that the nanofibers produced within the scope of the study are candidate materials especially for health, hygiene and food applications since they are produced in pure properties without using any other additives.

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