During the COVID-19 epidemic, the teachers of the College of Textiles are not only the frontline “warriors” who perform their duties of teaching and educating, but also the experts who assist enterprises to overcome technical difficulties with professional knowledge and guide factories to resume work and production in a reasonable manner. Valuable contributions were made to the whole textile industry in its fight against the epidemic with the help of science and technology.

Non-woven team uses technology to help enterprises fight the epidemic through multiple channels

Professor Jin Xiangyu’s scientific research team has carried out various work to popularize scientific knowledge during the outbreak of the epidemic. They worked overtime and developed electret melt-blown non-woven materials, electret needle punched non-woven materials, medical-grade spunbonded non-woven materials and medical-grade spunlace non-woven materials in the laboratory. They also cooperated with companies to develop a variety of protective materials and products, such as protective masks, medical-use protective clothing, insulation garment, and DHU patented child protective masks, providing reliable data support for the research and development of new products in companies.

(Liu Chenggong, party secretary of DHU, conducting investigation at the Non-woven Material Forming Laboratory)

Moreover, Professor Jin Xiangyu’s scientific research team also cooperated with Shanghai Hulijia Industrial Co., Ltd. to start an emergency research project. In just 10 days, the transformation of the production line was completed under their guidance, with a production speed of 400 gaskets per minute and a daily production of 500,000 medical mask gaskets. This “magical” product enables the mask to be changed every three days, extending its service life. At present, the team and Hulijia Group are further optimizing the structure, function and standard of face masks for babies and young children, which is expected to provide better protection for students of primary schools and kindergartens at the beginning of the new semester.

(Professor Jin Xiangyu’s scientific research team guiding Shanghai Hulijia Industrial Co., Ltd. to resume production)

Due to the insufficiency of protective materials, some enterprises faced different problems such as production line adjustment and technical reserves shortage though they actively changed the line of production. To this end, Professor Jin Xiangyu’s scientific research team gave full play to its professional advantages and actively cooperated with enterprises. They provided Grace Group with melt-blown and electret equipment technology to help produce non-woven protective materials. The research team and Henan Piao’an Group jointly developed long-term electret technology, which could be applied to masks, protective pads and other non-woven protective materials to achieve high efficiency and low resistance.

During the COVID-19 epidemic, the demand for masks increased sharply, resulting in a series of new problems, such as the wrong adoption of standards by civil mask manufacturers, the difficulty in market supervision, and consumers’ failure to identify. On March 11, the group standard Civil Sanitary Mask led by the China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association was officially released. Professor Jin Xiangyu was one of the drafters. The promulgation and implementation of the standard will provide technical support for relevant mask manufacturers, provide a basis for market supervision, and assist consumers to purchase suitable masks.

(Participating in the drafting of the group standard Civil Sanitary Mask)

Textile Experimental Center provides mask testing consulting services for enterprises

Shanghai Textile Group Testing & Standard Co., Ltd., urgently expanded the comparison test of the capabilities of masks and protective clothing in accordance with top-down instruction. In the case of the shortage of professional testing equipment for the testing project, Dr. Ding Ruoyao, director of the R&D Department of Shanghai Textile Group Testing & Standard Co., Ltd., led a team to visit the Textile Experimental Center after learning that the College of Textiles has an automatic filter material detector (USA TSI 8130) that could be used for mask filtration efficiency and filtration resistance testing. They conducted a series of experiments with the help of Wang Fujun, deputy dean of the College of Textiles, Lin Jing, director of the Textile Experimental Center and Shen Chunlong, a teacher of the Center. At the test site, Shen Chunlong patiently explained the test principle and operation method of the automatic filter material detector, and tested the filter efficiency and filter resistance of the mask samples in accordance with the relevant test standards; then a complete and detailed performance test on the samples was conducted under non-standard conditions, which expanded the application scope and environment of the mask. In addition, Shen Chunlong also provided consulting services for professional mask testing for visitors, which was recognized and appreciated by the company.

With the support of the party committee of DHU and the College of Textiles, the Textile Experimental Center successfully completed the comparative test commissioned by Shanghai Textile Group Testing & Standard Co., Ltd. In the meantime, the expansion project of the China Metrology Certification (CMA) mask testing capabilities of the Textile Experimental Center of DHU has also been carried out at a steady pace, which is aimed at assisting mask manufacturers to conduct professional testing and providing more protection for the people who are fighting on the front line of epidemic prevention and control.

(Shen Chunlong, a teacher of the Textile Experimental Center, conducting the mask filter performance test)

A teacher in the epidemic-stricken area provides services for a local enterprise

Wang Hua, a teacher of the College of Textiles, has been cared about the resumption of work and production of local enterprises although he was in the epidemic-stricken area of Hubei Province. On March 15, at the invitation of Hubei Chemical Fiber Group Co., Ltd., Mr. Wang Hua went to the company’s factory to give advice on how to perform production line construction, and gave a talk on the topic of “Mask Industry Chain and Its Investment and Production Plan Under the Attack of the Global Epidemic”. He assisted the enterprise to make overall planning and layout with professional knowledge and help them solve problems.

(Mr. Wang Hua giving advice on how to perform construction in Hubei Chemical Fiber Group Co., Ltd.)

The epidemic has been controlled effectively with the joint efforts of all sectors of society. Textile professionals have been assisting enterprises to overcome technical difficulties with their expertise and have contributed a lot to the fight against the epidemic in the textile industry.