| Abstract [eng] |
During the last decade, special attention in the field of textile engineering has been paid to the functional exceptionality and origin of textile products. In order to obtain novel functional (specifically; protective, medicinal, enhanced comfort, etc.) properties of textile materials or to boost the already available ones, innovative textile structures and types of finishings, as well as new types of fibres, have been created. When designing quality knitted structures, it is essential to be highly competent in the field of weaving knitted fabric. The type of weaving depends on the type of structural elements and the method of formation of the knitted structure. This determines not only the visual appearance of the knitted fabrics but also the properties of the obtained product. The loops of the knitted products may contain threads made of different fibres or be denoted by different structures, when one of the elements is formed from threads of one particular type or several different types of threads that contribute to determining the properties of the final material. The present thesis compares knitted products of plain transverse weavings obtained by folding within a single loop, either the yarn of a single type of yarn or a variety of yarns, containing only natural fibres. The growing awareness of users and the increasing demand for organic materials demands the dedication of special interest to natural fibres of organic origin in the production of functional textiles. The issue of global organic manufacturing has been raised for more than a decade. Sustainable consumption and the need to deal with environmental issues prompts interest in the cyclic economic model, which is highly relevant and employed in numerous European countries. The urgent challenge is not merely the production of an organic item but also the discovery of the most environmentally-friendly way of manufacturing and obtaining the required fibre. Therefore, the present doctoral thesis chooses the peat fibre as the main object of research. This fibre is a by-product of peat harvesting. Annually, enormous amounts of peat are mined for use in many fields, including but not limited to fuel production, agriculture – yet the above listed products use only the deeper layers of peatlands; whereas the surface layer is essentially industrial waste. The surface layer consists of cottongrass (Eriophorum vaginatum) stems that complete the vegetative cycle and partially degraded upon undergoing the impact of the specific environmental conditions of a marshy ecosystem. Therefore, the production of peat fibre does not require lots of arable land, which are heavily exhausted when growing fibre cultures (e.g., linen). In addition, no pesticides and/or herbicides need to be used (differently from the process of growing various cultures) and additional use of water is not required, for example, in the process of growing cotton. The peat fibre is environmentally friendly because its source is renewable, due to the harvested peatlands natural recovery. A shortage of investigations grounded with scholarly research data on the application of the peat fibre for the production of textile fabrics, the feasibility of its processing and its impact on the manufactured product’s consumption and functional properties has been observed. Evidently, further scholarly research in this field is not only highly relevant but also urgent, due to the real life needs of the industry. |
