Textile Materials for Healthcare and Medical Applications

Chapter 3 provides the basis for understanding the nature of textile materials in general, the characteristics that all textiles have in common such as their flexibility, their ability to recover from deformation, their permeability, and their amenability to adjustment/engineering of their properties to meet the demands made by a wide range of applications. The focus of attention is on the properties conferred by fibre characteristics, yarn characteristics, and fabric construction on the finished item rather than on the polymer from which the fibres are made (the subject of Chapter 4) or on after-treatments applied as finishes to the fabric or item (Chapter 5). Given that nanofibres for medical-textile applications continue to generate substantial interest, and newer applications ranging from modification of core-spun yarn surface characteristics through to controlled drug release continuing to be explored, details about how nanofibres are made and how they may be modified, collected, and constructed into fabrics to fit a particular purpose are given special attention. Brief details are provided about the way that the five main fabric types used in medical textiles, namely woven, weft-knitted, warp knitted, braided, and non-woven are constructed, the range of useful characteristics that they are able to demonstrate, and the applications into which they are directed. The need to give more consideration to cost and environmental matters regarding the habitual use of disposables is highlighted and some guidance is provided on the next steps to take to ensure improved performance in this aspect of medical textile product design and development. Some interesting developments in the miniaturisation of the processes of weaving and braiding to yield microfabrics for implantation are illustrated and discussed.