The important role of luminescent fiber materials in the field of textiles and clothing

In recent years, the application of luminescent materials in clothing has attracted attention, and apparels containing luminescent materials have begun to play an important role in the fields of transportation, fire protection, ultraviolet protection, fashion design, and stage performance.

Luminous fiber

Luminous fiber is a kind of special fiber that absorbs energy by light or ultraviolet radiation and then converts it into light radiation. Generally, it is made of polyester , nylon or polypropylene, adding rare earth long afterglow luminescent material and nano-level functional additive. A light conversion functional fiber made by a spinning process. The fiber has various colors when it has visible light, and emits light of various colors when there is no visible light. The luminescent fibers are mainly classified into luminescent fibers and fluorescent fibers depending on the luminescent materials added.

Luminous fiber is a non-toxic, non-radioactive, recyclable functional fiber with the greatest feature of excellent afterglow properties. The afterglow performance of the currently developed luminous fiber still does not reach the brightness of the night illumination, and the light is rapidly attenuated after leaving the excitation light source. The long afterglow material is colorful in color, but the materials used in the fiber are few and far between, and the produced luminous fiber is yellow-green in the night, which is relatively simple.

Fluorescent fibers can be classified into infrared fluorescent fibers and ultraviolet fluorescent fibers depending on the excitation light source. Infrared fluorescent fiber refers to the ability to emit different colors of light under the excitation of infrared light (the wavelength is usually between 0.7 and 1.6 μm). The upconverting phosphor is used to accumulate and convert into high-level light release with a low-energy source. Because the wavelength of the excitation source is invisible, infrared fluorescent fibers are often used in the field of anti-counterfeiting technology. Ultraviolet fluorescent fiber refers to a fiber that emits various colors under the excitation of ultraviolet light and returns to the original color when the ultraviolet light disappears.

Fluorescent coating

The coating method uses cotton, polyester/cotton or polyester fabric as the base fabric, and the luminescent material and the binder are mixed to form a coating, and a new functional fabric is obtained after coating treatment. The commonly used ultra-long-lasting phosphor SrO2Al2O3 (MSiO2): Eu2+ excitation wavelength and emission wavelength are both around 510nm, and the daily light source has excitation effect, and its emission wavelength is in the visible range. The phosphors are chemically stable, non-toxic, non-radioactive and safe for humans. The rare earth luminescent material is specially treated and added to the dyeing bath and the printing paste as an additive, which can obviously improve the color depth and color vividness of the dyed and printed fabric.

Fluorescent dyes

In the production of luminescent materials, the main purpose is to add fluorescent dyes to the dyeing solution for dyeing. This method can make the printed fabrics brighten and brighten, and emit fluorescence under ultraviolet light. Due to the different dyeing mechanisms of different fiber fabrics, fluorescent dyes are also various. For example, nylon is mainly dyed by dispersing or acid fluorescent dyes, and cotton and polyester/cotton blended fabrics are dyed by reactive fluorescent dyes.

Fiber optic fabric

The fiber optic fabric is woven into a fabric by using a textile technology combined with a plastic optical fiber. The high permeability of the optical fiber and the addition of a light emitting diode at the end can become a self-illuminating optical fiber fabric after being energized. Since the fiber optic fabric is blended with fiber optics and textile fibers, the fabric exhibits the same effect as a normal fabric during the day, and glows brightly when energized at night. The fabric is light and thin, soft and comfortable, and the colors are varied.