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Metallic nanoparticles are widely used due to their superior electrical, antimicrobial, and electromagnetic shielding characteristics. In this work, the surface functionalization of polypropylene (PP) fibers using magnetron sputtering with pure Cu and Ag targets in the presence of Ar gas was systematically investigated, in detail, in terms of surface morphology, tensile, abrasion resistance, moisture regain, antibacterial, and electrostatic properties. The results indicated that the nanocomposite films deposited on the PP surface were even and dense under proper treatment conditions. Compared with pristine fiber, breaking tenacity, abrasion resistance, and antibacterial properties of the Cu/Ag-deposited PP fibers were significantly improved, whereas the extension at break and moisture regain decreased in different degrees. Also, the electrostatic property of treated PP fabrics was studied. This work reveals that surface functionalization of Cu/Ag-deposited PP fiber is versatile, and the surface treatment that uses metallic nanoparticles by magnetron sputtering is a promising approach for achieving multifunctional textiles.

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Highly stretchable composite yarns containing metal wire have attracted great interest as a fundamental building block for special protective fields. A method for producing tri-component elastic-conductive composite yarns (t-ECCYs) has been described previously. The main purpose of this work was to investigate the mechanical behavior and structural stability of a highly stretchable woven fabric containing t-ECCYs inserted in its weft direction. By virtue of the unique structure of t-ECCYs, the woven fabric has a denser and tighter surface than the reference fabric (100% cotton), which facilitates its weft elastic stretchability in excess of 40%. Furthermore, a typical initial low-stress tensile curve characteristic and an acceptable cyclic elastic recovery stability at a higher strain of 25% were observed, indicating excellent mechanical robustness of as-prepared woven fabric. Also, a modified standard solid model by introducing an exponent to the exponential function can fairly well replicate the tensile characteristics during stretch. Importantly, the structural stability of the fabric remained nearly unchanged following cyclic expansion (≈43%) and washing-drying (10 times) cycles. It is promising that this kind of mechanically robust and highly stretchable woven fabric containing metal wire is prerequisite for the next wave of superelastic electromagnetic shielding materials.

In this study, a new methodology to improve the longitudinal compressive strength and modulus of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber-reinforced epoxy resin matrix is developed. The proposed method involves wrapping a UHMWPE fiber bundle with a poly-p-phenylene benzobisoxazole fiber filament using a winding method, and using these bundles to fabricate unidirectional UHMWPE fabric. UHMWPE/epoxy composites were fabricated using vacuum-assisted resin-transfer molding (VARTM), and the compression properties of the composite were evaluated and compared to investigate the effect of the filament wrapping. Improvements in the compressive modulus were achieved for filaments wound with applied tension, and when increasing the filament-winding spacing; however, the compressive strength decreased with an increase in the filament-winding spacing. Results obtained confirm that fiber microbuckling failure occurred in the composite under longitudinal compression, and that inhibiting the buckling length of the fiber improved compressive properties. These results may be useful when designing the mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced polymer composites.