With the development of science and technology, more and more innovative materials are becoming available. Among them, polylactic acid (PLA) fiber is a green, degradable and environmentally friendly fiber that meets the current dual-carbon goals and is sustainable. So, what kind of material is polylactic acid fiber? In what fields is this material used? Among them, Suzhou Guyuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Suzhou Jinquan New Materials Co., Ltd., has devoted itself to the research and development of PLON polylactic acid fiber, which is called "skin fiber". Why can it bring about profound changes in the field of materials? Let’s find out below.
From sugar in plants to bio-based materials, learn about the past and present of PLON polylactic acid fiber
Before getting to know PLON polylactic acid fiber, let’s first understand polylactic acid fiber. The core component of polylactic acid fiber is polylactic acid (PLA), which is derived from sugars in natural plants. The sugars in these plants can be synthesized into polylactic acid through fermentation, dehydration, polymerization and other processes, and then prepared through a melt spinning process. . Polylactic acid fiber is very environmentally friendly, and its synthesis and preparation process is low-carbon compared with petroleum-based chemical fibers.
Judging from the current research and development and application, polylactic acid fiber has excellent ecological antibacterial properties, safety, non-allergenicity, moisture conductivity and breathability, and because it is made from natural materials and is naturally degradable, it is a fiber material with great development prospects. .
However, polylactic acid fiber is also a relatively delicate material. Due to its congenital hardness and brittleness, the material lacks elasticity and toughness, is not resistant to high and low temperatures, and is difficult to process. The slices are difficult to dry and easy to agglomerate, the spinning process window is narrow, and filament ends are easy to be produced. The drafting is very easy to wind around the roller. When curling, the two sides are easy to stick and harden. It is difficult to control the temperature during drying and setting, and the filaments are easy to become hard. Phenomenon, fiber products are prone to low strength, high shrinkage, poor curling, etc. Not only that, polylactic acid fiber has a rough feel, and friction between fibers can form large static electricity. During the production process, the loss of the material itself is large and the equipment failure rate is high.
In order to solve these pain points, Guyuan Biotech began to modify PLA in 2019 to improve its tolerance, spinnability, and reprocessing performance, reduce the failure rate of production equipment, realize the industrial production of PLON fiber, and accelerate the advancement of PLA industrialization process. It can be said that PLON=PLA+.
PLON fiber is developed by Guyuan Biotechnology in cooperation with Academician Zhu Meifang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and more than ten experts and a doctoral team from Donghua University. It is made of polylactic acid (PLA) As the core raw material, it has been modified to improve performance and is a fibrous material processed by spinning technology. Guyuan Biotech retains the advantages of PLA bio-based materials, overcomes its inherent performance shortcomings, and uses modification technology to successfully realize the industrial production and application of PLA materials in non-woven fields such as hot air, spunlace, hot rolling, needle punching, and melt blowing.
As a new type of low-carbon bio-based chemical fiber, polylactic acid fiber has many advantages that cannot be matched by chemical fiber materials. In particular, PLA's outstanding degradability and skin-friendliness determine that this material can be used in different fields. play an important role. The PLON polylactic acid fiber created by Guyuan Biotechnology integrates all the advantages of polylactic acid fiber, improves its defects, and improves its tolerance, spinnability and hand feel, paving the way for the commercialization of PLA materials in the downstream field. The application provides solutions and provides new bio-based material options for the fields of medical and health products and personal textiles.
