FrÜling

The FrÜling project - early overload indication on personal protective equipment - will develop functional equipment for ropes and harnesses that uses a fluorescent dye to indicate overloading. The focus is on ropes and harnesses as used in personal protective equipment, e.g. against falls from a height (PPE). PPE can wear out due to continuous stress (e.g. friction) during operation or due to acute, singular events (falls). To prevent a hazard, wear must be monitored and checked. If PPE is so worn that it no longer meets the safety requirements, it is referred to as being ready for discarding. However, it is not possible to determine the wear resistance (WR) non-destructively and it is therefore estimated. The aim of this project is to develop polymer-based additives that make structural weakening due to overload/wear visible in real time.

The polymer-based additives for textile finishing should activate a dye in response to a sufficiently large mechanical stimulus and thus make the overload visible. The project is also evaluating suitable processing methods for the new additives and demonstrating their feasibility. The additives are based on mechanophores: these are stress- or strain-activated molecular building blocks that are inserted into a polymer material. The development of such building blocks and the optimization of polymer topology are the subject of mechanochemistry and are being intensively researched in the Herrmann working group with a view to numerous pharmaceutical and technical applications. (Huo, S.; Zhao, P.; Shi, Z.; Zou, M.; Yang, X.; Warszawik, E.; Loznik, M.; Gostl, R.; Herrmann, A., Mechanochemical bond scission for the activation of drugs. Nature Chemistry 2021, 13 (2), 131-139. Shi, Z.; Song, Q.; Göstl, R.; Herrmann, A., Mechanochemical activation of disulfide-based multifunctional polymers for theranostic drug release. Chemical Science 2021, 12 (5), 1668-1674. Huo, S.; Liao, Z.; Zhao, P.; Zhou, Y.; Göstl, R.; Herrmann, A., Mechano-Nanoswitches for Ultrasound-Controlled Drug Activation. Advanced Science 2022, 9 (12), 2104696. Klok, H.-A.; Herrmann, A.; Göstl, R., Force ahead: Emerging Applications and Opportunities of Polymer Mechanochemistry. ACS Polymers Au 2022, 2 (4), 208-212).

The prospects for transferring this to industrial practice are considered good. On the one hand, the technical requirements for the application of functional additives in textile finishing are common and no new investments are required. Secondly, the functional additives can be made hydrophilic and compatible with suitable binder systems by selecting suitable repeating units. The synthetic approach can be used for other functional leaving groups. The benefit of the project for SMEs is the expansion of the portfolio and the introduction of a new technology based on mechanophores.

The project is accompanied by a project committee of industrial users. Companies interested in this development are cordially invited to participate. Please contact us!