Fibrillated Staple Fibers
Herty offers laboratory, pilot, and production quantities of fibrillated fibers. These types of fibers impart unique properties to products, ranging from enhanced strength and porosity, to improved softness and feel. Applications include concrete, high performance membranes, and nonwoven fabrics.
The most common synthetic fibers are generally manufactured as straight rod-like fibers, usually with round cross-sections, then used as continuous long fibers to produce fabrics or chopped to produce short staple fibers. When some short staple fibers are further treated, typically with a shearing force, they fibrillate creating even smaller fibers. This fibrillated fiber can act as a binder to give fabrics strength or concrete enhanced durability, toughness, impact resistance, and permeability. Fibrillated fibers have high specific surface that enhances their performance in filtration applications. Fibrillated fibers can be functionalized to create active filters that target the removal of specific contaminants.
When natural fibers are exposed to a shearing force, the fibers undergo partial delamination of the cell wall and the fiber becomes fibrillated. This manifests itself in the creation of a highly branched or hairy appearance of the fiber, which leads to an increase in relative bonded area with improved mechanical properties.
Our staff is ready to work with you to tailor the characteristics of fibers to meet your needs. We can deliver proof-of-concept and scale-up to meet your commercial needs.
Let us help identify a commercial product or develop a fibrillated fiber for your specific needs. Herty can quickly make and test small samples then, test and production programs can be developed to meet your performance, schedule, and budget requirements.
No problem! Herty is a secure facility where 100% of the work is performed by our full-time research and technical staff. No other clients or visitors will be permitted in the lab or pilot areas when your testing or production program is active.
For more information please contact Dr. Walt Chappas.
Last updated: 3/29/2016