INFLUENCE OF THE SIZE OF TOURMALINE PARTICLES APPLIED ON POLYESTER FABRIC ON THE RELEASE OF NEGATIVE IONS

Abstract

There are some scientific papers that verify that the generation of negative ions in the air have positive consequences on people’s mood and health. In this work is intended to increase the generation of negative ions from polyester fabrics to achieve an increase in well-being and comfort through the realize of negative ions. To improve the negative ion release ability on different substrates there have been many studies which have considered silicates as a good particle with these characteristics. Polyester fabrics were treated using padding system with different tourmaline microparticles in order to modify the surface behavior when rubbed and demonstrating that it is possible to modify the number of negative ions generated. Two types of tourmaline microparticles with different size particles, 3 and 30 μm, were studied and applied on the samples with and without an acrylic resin to get a better fixation. To determine the quantity of negative ions released, an ion counter was used, testing each sample. Finally, the results were studied, analyzing the different parameters that influence them, as the concentration, the addition of resin or the kind of the particle. The best results were obtained with the Tourmaline with 30 μm at 50 g/L concentration and without the addition of the acrylic resin.

Keywords

• acrylic resin
• padding
• microparticles
• finishing
• silicates