TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a refreshing and relaxing fabric with painkilling properties, which is developed to be used in all fields within home textile, clothing, and medical sectors where fabric is utilized, wherein it reduces the use of medical-character painkillers thanks to its painkilling property, allows the human body to breathe more comfortably in cases of perspiration, etc. since the air will flow through the body, and provides a relaxing effect with its negative ion emission property.

BACKGROUND ART

PLA can be biologically decomposed once it is ready to be discarded by the consumer. PLA (polylactic acid) is utilized in many sectors including the food packaging industry, health and medical industry, construction industry, cosmetic industry, and textile industry.

Biodegradable food packaging films (made of PLA) are employed in single-use forks, knives, drink cups, salad containers, plates, packaging papers, and thin films, straws, drink-stirrers, covers, and boxes all of which are used in daily life and are in contact with food and beverages.

Biomedical applications (of PLA): Surgical operation materials (adhesive and filling materials), temporary or permanent artificial organs such as intraocular lens, dental implant, artificial kidney, artificial heart, artificial vein. Non-toxic, inert, and highly biocompatible materials are preferred for these purposes. Biodegradable polymers are biologically appropriate. These polymers are not only light, but they also do not pose any risk of infection. PLA is one of these materials. Surgical Use (of PLA): It is generally utilized for stitches in surgical interventions; they are hemostatic, tissue adhesive, and wound closure materials.

Agricultural applications (of PLA): It is used in mulch films, erosion control systems, and piles. Mulch films are preferred to modify soil temperature, prevent erosion, reduce water and pesticide use, and minimize weeds.

Automotive applications (of PLA): Biopolymers supported with natural fibers are utilized in parts of vehicles such as dashboards, door panels, headlamps, grids, fenders, etc. in the automotive industry.

Cosmetic applications (of PLA): It is used as a stabilizer and destabilizer, modifier, thinner, emulsifier, and antimicrobial additive.

Falling under the sub-category of “Non-Implantable Textiles” within medical textiles, bandages are used to apply pressure to the bleeding area and to protect the wound from external factors in bleeding or similar events or to ensure determination and fixation of the area in sprains, slips, dislocations, and fractures. Bandages are essentially expected to be absorbent, soft, loosely woven, manufactured from skin- friendly fibers such as cotton or the like. Bandages are utilized in various parts of the body such as the head, chest, hands, knees, arms, elbows, ear, eyes, shoulders, hip, and feet. Bandages are benefitted as an orthopedic support material to protect and support joints in several parts of the body; and within the scope of medical applications, they are mainly used after an operation or trauma, in degenerative and inflammatory joint diseases (gonarthrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.), in ligament and tendon strains, and in specific problems in some joints.

Bandages, which are plain knitted and used for medical treatment support purposes, are commonly utilized for improving hematoma and edema absorption and blood circulation with their supporting and compressing abilities thanks to their two-way stretch structures, as well as combining soft material protectors or adhesive elastic profiles with their stabilization, support and massage abilities. A polymer with a natural new generation monomer such as PLA is selected to be used as the raw material for the medical textile product aimed to be developed as a support for medical treatment. PLA is a biodegradable thermoplastic polymer derived from herbal resources rich in starch such as corn, sugarcane, and wheat. Since it is a biologically absorbable polymer, it has only been used for biomedical purposes for a long time. However, with the increase of humans’ sensitivity to the environment and the discovery of new properties of PLA in the last 10 years, research on PLA has accelerated, and this has led to the discovery of more economical ways of synthesis for the production of PLA with high molecular weight. Thus, PLA’s areas of use have started expanding and covering a wide array of areas from the packaging industry to general consumer products. PLA is used in jackets, sports clothes, and bridal dresses, nonwoven products in the textile sector; in headliners and floor liners and in-vehicle plastic parts in the automotive sector; in laminates and wall coverings in the construction sector; in cable sheaths for electrical and electronics purposes; and in medical and health products.

Thanks to its ability to emit negative ions, tourmaline creates atomic and molecular vibrations by spreading to the depths of the body if interacting with it, raises the internal body temperature, and also leads to an increase in blood circulation in the tissues by enabling capillaries to expand. Creating such impacts that will benefit human health, tourmaline is known as a natural healer and relaxant. If tourmaline is going to be used for medical treatment/support in a way that will benefit human health, its negative ion emission concentration is deemed appropriate to be between 10,000 - 1 ,000,000 particles/cc.

The textile, which is manufactured to be used for health and/or medical purposes and not for dressing or covering oneself, becomes functional in three different ways: using fibers with the desired functional property as the raw material in the production of textile, mixing additives that give afunctional property to the employed fibers over the course of fiber spinning, and applying functional finishing procedures to the textile. One of the effective techniques used to give permanent functional properties to the textile is to mix additives to the employed polymer over the course of fiber spinning. According to this working principle, functional and high-performance fibers with different properties are manufactured by use of melt spinning, electrospinning, and bicomponent spinning methods. The bicomponent spinning method, one of the cutting-edge technologies, is based on the principle of spinning two different polymers from the same spinneret hole.

Generally dominant in Turkey in technical textile production are practices that include added-value textile manufacturing with methods such as weaving and knitting of high-performance fibers imported from abroad or finishing processes on textile with conventional methods such as coating, laminating, spraying, and impregnating. Importing high-performance fibers from abroad leads to foreign dependency, and profit margins remain low because of high raw material expenses due to import although an added-value product is obtained as a result of the manufacturing process. Some problems faced in relation to technical textiles obtained with finishing processes, on the other hand, are mostly lack of permanent effects and loss of function after being washed or worn. The use of nano agents has grown rapidly with an aim to provide permanence in textile manufacturing. Nano-sized additives, which are also employed in the bicomponent spinning method, increase the permanence property of the relevant fiber in terms of both efficiency and duration of use. Nano-sized additives in the textile structure increase surface area and reduce gaps between particles, thereby ensuring that the desired property is more efficient.

Described in application no. TR 2017/06440 titled “Cellulite-Remover and Pain- Reliever Anti-Bacterial Elastic Garment” in the prior art, the invention is summarized as follows: “The present invention relates to a cellulite-remover and pain-reliever anti-bacterial elastic garment which is obtained by addition, during weaving, of a certain amount of copper and silver fiber into the content of garments such as tights, kneepads, ankle braces, wrist guards, elbow pads, calf guards, shoulder guards, etc. for medical or sports purposes; and its feature is that it is comprised of 30-35% spandex fiber, 40-60% polyamide nylon fiber, 4-29% silver fiber, and 1-15% copper fiber and that the mentioned elastic garments such as tights, kneepads, ankle braces, wrist guards, elbow pads, calf guards, shoulder guards, etc. for medical and/or sports purposes are given pain-relieving, cellulite-removing, rehabilitating and anti-bacterial properties thanks to the silver and copper fibers in their contents.”

The Chinese patent document no. CN104818543A in the prior art mentions a modified polylactic acid fiber within the scope of the polymer material modification field. The relevant invention describes the production of PLA fiber by using polylactic acid at different amounts and adding nano tourmaline and other solids.

Another Chinese patent document no. CN111376556A in the prior art mentions an anti-static fabric for pregnant women and the preparation method thereof. In the said invention, the polylactic acid/cotton blended yarn is prepared by blending polylactic acid fibers and cotton fibers, wherein the content of the polylactic acid fibers is 25 to 35%, and the content of the cotton fibers is 65 to 75%. It is stated that the base cloth manufactured with the use of polylactic acid fiber will keep the user cool and be breathable. The base cloth is aimed to be made radiation-proof by being coated with a coating material, which also includes tourmaline.

Environmentally-friendly and biocompatible polymers are now the preferred options in the development of many products because of the ever-increasing problems such as the gradual decrease in oil reserves, the increase in the amount of waste due to the elevated use of PE-, PP-, PET-, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)-, and Polystyrene (PS)-based products having the highest share among polymer wastes, the disturbance of natural balance due to consumption as a result of population growth, and the pollution in the environment due to waste. The amount of waste material increased greatly because of the elevated use of PE-, PP-, PET-, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)-, and Polystyrene (PS)-based products having the highest share among polymer wastes. An increase in the demand for environmentally-friendly products and processes led to the tendency to opt for biodegradable and/or recyclable polymer-based products. Product life of medical textiles that are given temporary functional properties with conventional finishing processes such as coating, laminating, spraying is also short. On the other hand, our country has an advanced infrastructure in terms of both technology and human resource in the textile sector.

Some of the problems in the prior art are listed below:

- The increase in environmental pollution, decrease in oil and water reserves and the resulting increase in prices of oil-based fibers, and the increasing temperatures due to global warming are all evidence of the need for new generation fibers and an expansion of their areas of use.

- Dye affinity problems in PLA-based fabrics.

- Reduction in physical properties such as durability and flexibility.

- There might be some technical problems in processes such as fiber spinning, weaving, knitting yarn production and finish since the PLA fiber production line has different stages from conventional textile fiber production.

High-performance fibers with functional properties are imported from abroad; however, bicomponent fibers with different compositions are also manufactured here, and R&D work on masterbatches with additives necessary for fiber spinning is being performed. Fibers with functional properties must be developed through R&D efforts, manufactured on a mass scale by using our country’s textile production infrastructure, and exported.

In conclusion, the abovementioned shortcomings and the inadequacy of the current practice entail an improvement in the respective technical field. Thus, there is a need for an invention to overcome the described problems.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Developed for eliminating the aforementioned disadvantages and providing new advantages to the respective technical field, the present invention relates to a refreshing and relaxing fabric with painkilling properties, which is developed to be used in all fields within home textile, clothing, and medical sectors where fabric is utilized, wherein it reduces the use of medical-character painkillers thanks to its painkilling property, allows the human body to breathe more comfortably in cases of perspiration, etc. since the air will flow through the body, and provides a relaxing effect with its negative ion emission property.

An objective of the present invention is to develop a fabric aiming to ensure that medical products such as bandages used in transdermal treatments are also relaxing, soothing, and refreshing, wherein it contains tourmaline, which relaxes the skin and helps with healing, in its structure as an additive.

The invention will also be used in everyday life in home textile products as bedclothes and the like. The invention will not only be used for medical purposes, but also for home textile. It is designed as a fabric to be more commonly used in this field with its painkilling property and to provide relaxation while sleeping.

Starting from the fiber development stage, the objective with this invention is to develop a bandage which aims to provide support (relaxing, soothing) to patients over the course of their medical treatment, is within the scope of medical textiles especially in foreign countries, and will be manufactured by the weaving of bicomponent fibers that contain tourmaline as an additive and are obtained from environmentally-friendly and biocompatible PLA polymer. While there are various studies in this field, the treatment support-oriented medical textile to be developed with this project is unique and innovative in terms of the use of PLA polymer in the manufacture of the relevant fabric, the use of environmentally-friendly and biocompatible tourmaline as an additive, the adoption of bicomponent fiber spinning method as one of the cutting-edge technologies in fiber production, and the achievement of permanent functional properties thanks to the use of this method. The most significant properties provided by PLA in comparison to other thermoplastics are being produced from renewable resources and being biocompatible. PLA is the leading material that can reduce the need for oil-based polymers and contribute to the solid waste problem, which is currently quite serious. Having at least 10,000 particles/cc of negative ion emission concentration of tourmaline powder-added medical textile developed with the present invention provides benefit to users and patients by helping them relax. Nano-sized tourmaline is mixed into the polylactic acid (PLA) polymer as a refreshing and relaxing agent in different concentrations by way of the bicomponent fiber spinning method; the resulting bicomponent fibers are improved and used to obtain technical textiles that will support users by relaxing and soothing them. PLA polymer is selected to be used as the raw material for the medical textile product aimed to be developed. With the increase of humans’ sensitivity to the environment and the discovery of new properties of PLA in recent years, PLA’s areas of use have expanded; it is used in jackets, sports clothes, and bridal dresses, nonwoven products in the textile sector; in headliners and floor liners and in-vehicle plastic parts in the automotive sector; in laminates and wall coverings in the construction sector; in cable sheaths for electrical and electronics purposes; and in medical and health products. Produced from renewable resources and being biocompatible, PLA is the leading material that can reduce the need for oil-based polymers and contribute to the solid waste problem, which is currently quite serious.

Primary stages while manufacturing the medical textile product to be developed to support users and patients are as follows: supplying polymer and additives, producing masterbatch, fiber spinning from masterbatch, manufacturing yarns from the fibers, manufacturing textile fabric from the obtained yarns by way of weaving, and manufacturing fabric from woven textile. All properties of the developed product of the invention are achieved at the fiber spinning stage. Additionally, since the developed medical textile will be efficient in terms of functionality, mass production will not only be limited to bandages, and different products such as active and sportswear and home textile will be designed.

To ensure that the developed medical textile meets the requirement of bursting strength of at least 200 N (maximum load, TS 7126 Standard) and to create a textile surface with a grammage of 180±20 g/m2 by way of weaving of PLA fibers having the appropriate composition obtained with the employed method are among the objectives of the invention.

The refreshing and relaxing fabric with painkilling properties of the invention can be manufactured bigger, smaller, in different weights by sticking to the same percentages, in different sizes and dimensions.

DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

The preferred alternatives in this detailed description of the embodiment of the refreshing and relaxing fabric with painkilling properties of the present disclosure are only intended for providing a better understanding of the subject matter and should not be construed in any restrictive sense.

In the invention, the medical textile aimed to be developed as a support for medical treatment by use of PLA polymer as the raw material provides positive effects to both users and the environment thanks to the properties of PLA polymer.

The product developed with this invention is not only fiber or fabric; the tourmaline- added PLA polymer-based textile fabric is designed as a refreshing and relaxing fabric in the final product.

The percentages for the product of the invention are preferably as follows: 2.3% tourmaline, 44,7% PLA (polylactic acid), and 53% cotton. The targeted fiber is produced by adding preferably 2.3% tourmaline to PLA. The final product is obtained by adding preferably 53% cotton. The invention consists 2-5% tourmaline for the yarn, 42-46% PLA, and 50-55% cotton. The percentage of tourmaline cannot be more than 5 since the product is no longer considered yarn if this value is exceeded. The reason behind the use of PLA, on the other hand, is that it is a biodegradable fiber and its use has been gradually increasing as an environmental product. It is a promising synthetic fiber.