The ideal 3D print­ing set­ting for innov­at­ive gloves

Pro­tect­ive gloves, such as those used for work, sport or house­hold garden­ing, retrieve their pro­tect­ive func­tion from a spe­cial coat­ing. This coat­ing provides abra­sion res­ist­ance, makes the mater­i­al water­proof and res­ist­ant to chem­ic­als or oil, and even pro­tects against cuts and punc­tures. Until now, coat­ings made of oil-based poly­mers, nitrile rub­ber or latex have been the main mater­i­als used. Using innov­at­ive tech­no­lo­gies, sci­ent­ists at the Ger­man Insti­tutes of Tex­tile and Fiber Research Den­kendorf (DITF) have suc­ceeded in devel­op­ing a robust yet flex­ible glove coat­ing using envir­on­ment­ally friendly lignin in a 3D print­ing process.

Coat­ings that are sub­ject to mech­an­ic­al stress always suf­fer from a cer­tain degree of abra­sion that is dis­persed in the sur­round­ing area. This is also the case with coated pro­tect­ive gloves.

In order to avoid long-term pol­lu­tion of the envir­on­ment, mater­i­als should be used whose abra­sion particles are bio­de­grad­able. The aim of the research pro­ject was to improve con­ven­tion­al pro­tect­ive equip­ment and integ­rate more sus­tain­able materials.

The biopoly­mer lignin is a nat­ur­al com­pon­ent of plant cells that is pro­duced in large quant­it­ies as a by-product of paper man­u­fac­tur­ing. Due to its prop­er­ties, it rep­res­ents an envir­on­ment­ally friendly altern­at­ive to oil-based coat­ing polymers.

The sci­ent­ists developed biopoly­mer com­pounds con­tain­ing lignin, which were used to pro­duce ther­mo­plastic mater­i­als that can be pro­cessed using 3D printing.

Lignin has few polar groups, which makes lign­ins hydro­phobic and there­fore insol­uble in water. For this reas­on, they bio­de­grade slowly. This makes them par­tic­u­larly suit­able for dur­able coat­ing materials.

Des­pite this dur­ab­il­ity, lignin particles that are released into the envir­on­ment through abra­sion bio­de­grade faster than the abra­sion of con­ven­tion­al coat­ings. This is due to the much high­er surface/​volume ratio.

The use of 3D print­ing makes it pos­sible to pro­duce the coat­ing pre­cisely and effi­ciently. The 3D print­ing pro­cess also makes it pos­sible to adapt the glove to the indi­vidu­al needs of the wear­er. This increases wear­er com­fort and pro­motes free­dom of movement.

The research pro­ject shows that the use of lignin not only offers eco­lo­gic­al bene­fits, but that pro­tect­ive gloves coated with it are also par­tic­u­larly dur­able and res­ist­ant. They meet safety stand­ards and at the same time con­trib­ute to sus­tain­ab­il­ity in the world of work.

The research pro­ject was fun­ded by the Min­istry of Rur­al Areas and Con­sumer Pro­tec­tion of the State of Baden-Württem­berg as part of the Bioeconomy Innov­a­tion and Invest­ment Pro­gram for Rur­al Areas ​“BIPL BW — Innov­a­tion” (fund­ing ref­er­ence BWIN220081).