Dissertation Defence: Designing Robust Oil-Repellent Textile Finishes using Polymer Brushes

Sadaf Shabanian, supervised by Dr. Kevin Golovin, will defend their dissertation titled “Designing Robust Oil-Repellent Textile Finishes using Polymer Brushes” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering.

An abstract for Sadaf Shabanian’s dissertation is included below.

Examinations are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Please email kevin.golovin@ubc.ca to receive the Zoom link for this defence.

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ABSTRACT

In this work, I have developed design parameters to create textile finishes that repel oil without relying on perfluorinated compounds. Given the existing regulatory bans on using perfluorinated compounds due to their potential toxicity, there is a need to explore safer alternatives. By employing the wettability equations and building on previous research, I have introduced dimensionless parameters for the systematic design of water and oil-repellent surfaces. Notably, every fluorine-free coating reported prior to our work was found to be wetting to oils. In this research, two types of polymer brushes have been used to create oil-repellent nylon fabrics. The developed method offers a facile and novel approach to address the challenges associated with achieving durable oil repellency in a more environmentally friendly way. Furthermore, the accuracy of wetting equations was examined for various fabrics by measuring their liquid repellency and comparing it with values derived from the equations. The impact of fabric structure, yarn radius, and spacing was studied to establish a framework for designing durable oil-repellent textiles.