Functional nonwovens for medical applications

Nonwovens are versatile material group suitable for various medical applications including. Properties of nonwoven materials can be adjusted by functionalization with various surface treatment and coating technologies. Printing methods e.g. can be used in functionalization of selected areas of nonwoven material. The foam coating technology enables application of thin functional coatings. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) and solgel techniques can be used to adjust surface properties with inorganic coatings also in nanoscale. In this presentation we will review some examples of nonwovens functionalization's with above mentioned technologies. We used screen printing method in order to prepare a medical cloth for application medical aids to skin. Cream transfer onto skin was tested and material showed promise e.g. for use for controlled dosage of medical creams. We used foam coating to make functional coating onto cellulosic fibre based nonwoven materials with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC)-ZnO/TiO2 -solution. Coating increased the strength of nonwoven material compared to non-coated material most likely due to NFC and PVA, while metal oxides made it bacteriostatic. This kind of material could be used e.g. in wound care and bandage applications. Surface properties of nonwovens were adjusted by ALD and sol-gel coatings. Hydrophobicity of coated nonwovens depended on the used coating methods, material, coating thickness and surface roughness. Prospective applications for metal oxide functionalized textiles include with water, oil and soil repellent and antimicrobial medical textiles.