Advanced Fibres and Films - SMITA Research Lab is involved in creating composite fibres at micro and nanoscale. Various anisotropic rigid organic and inorganic nanostructures have been incorporated within different polymer systems to obtain specialty fibres like high performance, high modulus, high tenacity, conducting, carbon fibres etc.
Prof. Ashwini Agarwal, Prof. Manjeet Jassal
The dispersion of nanomaterials in the solution/ melt is the crucial step in making of composite fibres. Investigation on incorporation of nanostructures within the fibre systems were carried out. Different solvent and polymer system like PVA/Water, PVA/Water/DMF and PAN/DMF were studied and Raman analysis confirm that the interaction with the solvent as well as the polymer system results in well dispersed and well aligned incorporation of the nanostructure. PAN nanofibers reinforced with ZnO nanorods up to 50 wt% on the weight of polymer could be readily electrospun in random and aligned configuration.
Ratyakshi Nain, Manjeet Jassal, Ashwini K. Agrawal, Polymeric nanofiber composites with aligned ZnO nanorods, Composites Science and Technology (2013), 86, 9–17. (Impact factor 3.328)
DRDO Industry Academia Centre of Excellence, IIT Delhi (Formerly known as Joint Advanced Technology Centre, IIT Delhi) DIACOE (Overall): DRDO Industry Academia Centre of Excellence (DIACOE) is a collaboration between DRDO and IIT Delhi. It was formerly known as Joint Advanced Technology Centre (JATC), IIT Delhi. It consists of Smart and Intelligent Textiles Vertical (SITEX), Advanced Ballistics Protection Vertical, and several other verticals. The following projects are being supervised by faculty from Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering, IIT Delhi : (A) Smart and Intelligent Textiles Vertical: • SITEX 01: Multilayered Coated and Laminated Fabric for Aerostat • SITEX 02: Multilayered Coated and Laminated Fabric for Airship • SITEX 05: Extreme Heat Protective Clothing for Defense personnel • SITEX 06: Extreme Cold weather clothing for Defense personnel (B) Advanced Ballistics and Protection Vertical: • ABSSP: Soft Body Armour Development
Prof. Mangala Joshi, Prof. B.S. Butola, Prof. R.S. Rengasamy, Prof. Apurba Das, Prof. Abhijit Majumdar
Aerostat and Airship: Aerostats are balloons or Lighter than Air systems tethered at a height of up to 10 kms from the ground. They are mainly used for surveillance at the borders. Whereas an Airship is a lighter-than-air vehicle that is mobile and achieves flight using a buoyant gas which is less dense than the surrounding air. Particularly, stratospheric airship flies in the stratosphere region of the atmosphere, i.e., at a height of about 50 km from the ground. Aerostat Hull Fabric: The product is a multilayered coated and laminated fabric that consists of various layers, such as a strength layer, coating layer, gas barrier layer, and weather protection layer. The strength layer consists of a high-strength or high-performance fabric such as Nylon, Polyester or Vectran. The gas barrier layer is either a coating layer of polymer nanocomposite with nanoparticle fillers or gas barrier film which is laminated over the coated fabric. Further, the weather protection layer is either a TPU nanocomposite with nanoparticle fillers or a protective film which can be laminated over the fabric as the final layer. Airship Fabric: The product is a multilayered coated and laminated fabric which consists of various layers as discussed above in the case of Aerostat. The strength layer used in this case is a high-performance and high-strength fabric such as Kevlar (para-aramid) or Vectran. The remaining layers are similar in technology as discussed in the case of Aerostat. In both the developed products, we could achieve the targets with excellent results – low weight, high tensile and tear strength, excellent helium gas barrier property and weather resistance property. Salient features of the products developed: • Indigenously designed and developed multilayered coated and laminated fabric • Polymer nanocomposite coated fabrics (use of nanomaterials) • Lightweight • High Tensile and Tear Strength • UV Protective • Good Flexibility • Excellent Sealability • Excellent Helium gas barrier property • Trials taken at lab, pilot and industrial scale • Indian patent filed
Prof. Mangala Joshi, Prof. B.S. Butola
Facilities in Aerostat and Airship Materials Laboratory
Prof. Mangala Joshi, Prof. B.S. Butola
Photographs
Prof. Mangala Joshi, Prof. B.S. Butola
Team Photograph
Prof. Mangala Joshi, Prof. B.S. Butola
The developed jacket is a multilayered arrangement consisting of four layers namely outer shell, moisture barrier, thermal liner, and face fabric. The outer shell of the jacket is made of aramid woven fabric that provides high flame retardancy, heat resistance, and breaking strength. It is dimensionally stable and durable. PU-coated PTFE laminated meta-aramid nonwoven fabric is used as a moisture barrier for the jacket. Meta-aramid needle-punched nonwoven fabric is used as a thermal liner in the jacket. The thermal liner is divided into various layers of different areal densities to achieve better insulation. A face fabric made up of twill weave cotton fabric is also placed after the thermal liner in the jacket to provide tactile comfort to the wearer. The jacket provides a TPP rating of 38 cal/cm2.sec for the given exposure conditions as per NFPA standards. The weight of the jacket is 2.2 kg (approximate). Salient Features: • Indigenous • Lightweight • Modular design: four garment layers • Proven Performance: Rigorously tested to meet functional standards.
Prof. Apurba Das
The developed product is a multi-layered, lightweight, thinner, cold-weather clothing capable of withstanding extreme cold weather conditions, including wind-chill temperatures as low as -60˚C. Using indigenously available material, each layer of the clothing ensemble is optimally designed to provide longer survival time and enhanced agility for soldiers in extreme conditions. Each extreme cold weather clothing component is rigorously tested and validated in the laboratory to ensure it meets the desired functional performance standards.
Prof. R.S. Rengasamy
Salient Features: • Indigenous (design, materials and production) • Lightweight ensemble • Modular design: Up to 4 garment layers • Inner and outer jacket each are 3-layered having high thermal resistance and resilience, low evaporative resistance, and high mechanical performance. • Proven Performance: Rigorously tested to meet functional standards. • Antimicrobial, high wicking skin contacting fabric • One-way liquid transfer and spreading fleece layer-Optional
Prof. R.S. Rengasamy
Products: Left-Antimicrobial vest, Middle-Fleece, Right-Ensemble with 4 layers
Prof. R. Rengasamy
Research Team
Prof. R.S. Rengasamy
A soft body armour generally consists of multiple layers of high-performance fabrics and can provide protection according to BIS Level 1 and NIJ level III A (velocity up to 430 m/s). Lightweight soft armour has been developed with active support from the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO). Woven and unidirectional (UD) fabrics made from aramids, and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fabrics and laminates have been used in different configurations. To enhance the energy absorbing capacity, these fabrics have been treated with shear thickening fluids (STFs). Continuous efforts are being made to modify these STFs using graphene oxide, halloysite nanotubes, cellulose nanofibres, etc. as well. Four Indian patents have been granted in this area. Salient Features: o UHMWPE UD laminates and woven p-aramid structures incorporated with smart fluid o Stops 9×19 mm lead core bullet (speed 430 m·s-1) with maximum back face < 25 mm (BIS Level 1) o Protection area of 3800 cm2 covering full torso and areal density of 3.7 kg·m-2
Prof. Abhijit Majumdar, Prof. Bhupendra Singh Butola
Research Facilities
Prof. Abhijit Majumdar, Prof. Bhupendra Singh Butola
Research Team
Prof. Abhijit Majumdar, Prof. Bhupender Singh Butola
Project no.: DST/TDT/DDP-25/2021(G)/RP04091: A novel instrument designed to match the real-world situations to measure the heat transfer through thermal protective clothing and detect the burn time while varying the angle of flash fire exposure, the gap between the flash fire and the thermal protective clothing, and by varying the air gap. The whole setup is fixed and can be rotated from 0 degrees to 180 degrees and allows heat flux testing at different angles (Fig. 8). Movement between the heat source and the testing specimen is varied by a screw joint fixed at the top. Air gap is varied by locking the sensor assembly with the screw arrangement. A variable heat source comprising of radiant heat source and the convective heat source is assembled to simulate the variable heat flux on the test specimen. A copper calorimeter heat flux sensor located in the sensor assembly resembling skin is used to sense temperature with the help of a thermocouple attached to it. A thermocouple from the copper calorimeter is connected to the data acquisition system. Further data from the data acquisition system is analyzed with the numerical modal to get the second-degree burn time and the depth of skin burn. Highlights • Indigenous • Capable to testing at different orientation • Arrangement to insert desired air gap • PLC based data acquisition and controls
Prof. Apurba Das
Research Team
Prof. Apurba Das
Project No.: RP04555G : The project encompasses research on a range of ceramic and natural fibrous materials for thermal and acoustic attenuation in automotive applications. To address the issue of fibre dust emission from exhaust systems, hybrid materials are utilised, primarily composed of knitted fabrics, nonwovens, and continuous fibre masses. Incorporating industrial glass-roving waste as a filler material contributes to waste management efforts and reduces fibre dust emissions from exhausts. A novel test setup, developed and patented, has been created to simulate the exhaust environment for acoustic measurements. The project also investigates various natural fibrous materials for thermo-acoustic insulation within the passenger compartments of vehicles. Highlight: • Optimized thermo-acoustic insulation • Glass-roving waste management • Hybridization for life and performance enhancement • Exhaust-system simulated environment tested
Prof. Apurba Das
Research Team
Prof. Apurba Das
Project No.: NTTM/IITD/IRD/RP04561: Stab, impact, slash and cut resistant textile armours are made of 17 to 40 layers of cut resistant fabrics. Using such number of layers reduces the flexibility and comfort of the armours. A large proportion of the cut and stab resistant clothing is imported from foreign countries like UK, US, China, etc. because of lack of technological developments. This is over 3.0 Billion USD market with CAGR of around 10 percent from last 5 years. These fabrics are required for protective textiles, automotive textiles and sports textiles. Additionally, companies like Saint Gobain, BMW, Maruti, Cummins, Volkswagen, Tenneco, and Fauresia in India are importing cut resistant workwear from overseas and demand for these is increasing yearly. Currently, over 100,000 meters of cut-resistant fabrics are being imported into India for job work only and the finished goods are exported back to Europe/USA. We need to develop this technology in India so that locally available fibres such as HT nylon, HT polyester, HT polypropylene, FR viscose, FR polyester, Acrylic, steel wire can also be utilized while designing/manufacturing cut/slash-resistant woven fabrics in combination with High Performance Fibres such as Aramid and UHMWPE. Bulky armours are also not suitable for covert use, as they affect the body shape too much. Multi-layered textiles are studied for stab, and impact performance but cut and slash resistance of multi-layered textiles has not been studied much. Highlight: • High-performance fibre • Multi-component hybrid yarn • Protection against cut, stab, and slash accident • Multi-layered textiles for cut and slash resistance
Prof. Apurba Das
Research Team
Prof. Apurba Das
IIT Campus, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, Delhi 110016 Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016