Shukla, S;
Wen, Y;
Szenti, I;
Kukovecz, A;
Sykes, TC;
Jervis, R;
Rawal, A;
(2025)
Synergizing weave-architected wettability with hierarchical fibrous assemblies to design hydrophobic woven fabrics.
Materials and Design
, 258
, Article 114519. 10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114519.
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Abstract
Engineering liquid-repellent textiles through tailored multi-scale surface morphology and controlled surface chemistry opens pathways to a broad spectrum of advanced technological applications. Woven fabrics exemplify intrinsically rough surfaces with hierarchical topography governed by mesoscale weave geometry and the microscale organization of fibers within the yarn structure. Herein, we systematically investigate the wetting behavior of woven fabrics by establishing structure–property relationships between the apparent water contact angle and multi-scale structural hierarchy along with the equilibrium contact angle of the fiber. Guided by the design principles of multi-scale organization, we predict the apparent contact angles of three distinct woven fabrics comprising polyester, a Kevlar/polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) hybrid, and carbon using yarn- and structure-level parameters obtained via X-ray microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) analysis. The predicted apparent contact angle values show good agreement with experimental measurements, particularly when evaluating (an)isotropy of droplet behavior from four different directions. Intriguingly, polyester fabric exhibits the fastest wetting transition, enabled by its tightly packed weave and moderate hydrophilicity of the constituent fibers. Parametric analysis demonstrates that tuning yarn- and structure-level parameters, along with the equilibrium (apparent) contact angle of individual fibers (yarn), can induce superhydrophobic behavior in woven fabrics and predict lower roll-off angles. These findings highlight the pivotal role of multi-scale structural design in governing fabric wettability.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Synergizing weave-architected wettability with hierarchical fibrous assemblies to design hydrophobic woven fabrics |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114519 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114519 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Wettability, Hydrophobicity, Woven fabrics, X-ray microcomputed tomography, Apparent contact angle |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10214799 |
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