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High X-ray absorption and, therefore, excellent X-ray protection properties are related to heavy chemical elements. Therefore, a composite fiber for X-ray protection applications was developed consisting of an organic cellulose part and an inorganic part. Whereas the preceding part provides the common properties connected to fibers and the latter part ensures the X-ray protection effect. The treatment of this composite fiber along the whole textile chain is presented and the possible usage as a common textile fiber in spinning and knitting processes is impressively demonstrated. Textile properties such as air permeability and abrasion stability are successfully tested. Furthermore, the microscopic structure is characterized by means of optical and scanning electron microscopy. The X-ray protective properties are determined by transmission experiments. The realization of a textile product is shown by production of a glove, where protective properties are impressively shown by 3D X-ray tomography. A...

Common textile materials as cotton or polyester do not possess reliable X-ray absorption properties. This is due to their morphology and chemical composition in particular. Common fibers are built up from organic polymers containing mainly the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. These “light” elements only have low X-ray absorption coefficients. In contrast, inorganic materials composed of “heavy” elements with high atomic numbers, e.g. barium or bismuth, exhibit X-ray absorption coefficients higher by up to two orders of magnitude. To obtain a flexible yarn with high X-ray absorption properties both these materials, the organic polymer and the inorganic X-ray absorber, are combined to an inorganic/organic composite fiber material. Hence, as the organic component cellulose from modified Lyocell-process is used as carrier fiber and blended with inorganic absorber particles of low toxicity and high absorption coefficients, as bariumsulphate, bariumtitanate or bismuthoxide. A content of inorganic absorber particles equally distributed in the whole fiber of up to 20% is achieved. The composite fibers are produced as staple or filament fibers and processed to multifilament or staple fiber yarns. The staple fiber yarns are rotor-spinned to increase the comfort of the subsequent textile material. Several woven fabrics, considering multilayer structure and different warp/weft density, are developed. The energy dependent X-ray shielding properties are determined in dependence on the different yarn compositions, yarn types and structural parameters of the woven fabrics. As a result, a production process of textile materials with comfortable and dedicated X-ray absorption properties is established. It offers a promising opportunity for manufacturing of specialized textiles, working clothes or uniforms applicable for medicine, air craft and security personal, mining as well as for innovative composite materials.

Reactivity and concentration of additives, especially activated charcoal, employed for the Lyocell process, enhance the complexity of reactions in cellulose/N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide monohydrate solutions. Analytical control of the starting materials is a basic requirement to know the concentration of heavy metals, which are potential initiators of autocatalytic reactions. Seven activated charcoal and two carbon black samples have been analyzed regarding their content of seven elements, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni and V using direct solid sampling high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace AAS (SS-HR-CS GF AAS) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) after microwave-assisted acidic digestion as a reference method. The limits of detection of the former technique are 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than those of ICP OES and comparable to those of more sophisticated techniques. For iron the working range of HR-CS GF AAS has been expanded by simultaneous measurement at two secondary absorption lines (344,099nm and 344,399nm). Partial least-squares regression between measured and calculated temperatures for beginning exothermicity (T(on)) has been used to investigate the prediction capability of the investigated techniques. Whereas the ICP OES measurements for seven elements resulted in an error of prediction of 3.67%, the results obtained by SS-HR-CS GF AAS exhibited a correlation coefficient of 0.99 and an error of prediction of only 0.68%. Acceptable correlation has been obtained with the latter technique measuring only three to four elements.