Novel Medical Fabrics Could Serve as Delivery Devices

An innovative non-woven material can be used to create fabrics that can be embedded with gels, liquid vessels, and other materials to perform biologic filtering and deliver liquids, and pharmaceuticals.

The new Hydrospace fabrics are innovative, lightweight spunlaced fabrics that are formed with internal cavities that can be filled with gels, waxes, cosmetics, detergents, and solid particles to make the fabric a functional device. The fabrics have precisely defined cavities within the cross-section; these cavities can be of many different shapes and sizes. This enables the storage, release, or the controlled delivery of functional or active agents. A variety of fragile, hydrophilic, and particulate materials can be introduced during the fabric formation. Adjacent spaces can be filled with different materials or the same spaces can be filled with dispersions, gels, or combinations of solids and liquids as the fabric is made.

Potential applications for the fabrics include applicators for cosmetics, lotions, medicaments, etc.; lightweight cellular composites; wipes and absorbents; insulators; different types of filter media; and security and protection products. The Hydrospace fabric was developed at the Nonwovens Innovation & Research Institute (NIRI, Leeds, UK), a spinoff company of the University of Leeds (UK).

Related Links:
Nonwovens Innovation & Research Institute
University of Leeds