Jump to main content
US EPA
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Search
Search
Main menu
Environmental Topics
Laws & Regulations
About EPA
Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)
Contact Us
Print
Feedback
Export to File
Search:
This record has one attached file:
Add More Files
Attach File(s):
Display Name for File*:
Save
Citation
Tags
HERO ID
4239332
Reference Type
Journal Article
Title
Facing the rain after the phase out: Performance evaluation of alternative fluorinated and non-fluorinated durable water repellents for outdoor fabrics
Author(s)
Schellenberger, S; Gillgard, P; Stare, A; Hanning, A; Levenstam, O; Roos, S; Cousins, IT
Year
2018
Is Peer Reviewed?
Yes
Journal
Chemosphere
ISSN:
0045-6535
EISSN:
1879-1298
Volume
193
Page Numbers
675-684
Language
English
PMID
29172158
DOI
10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.11.027
Abstract
Fluorinated durable water repellent (DWR) agents are used to obtain water and stain repellent textiles. Due to the on-going phase-out of DWRs based on side-chain fluorinated polymers (SFP) with "long" perfluoroalkyl chains, the textile industry lacks suitable alternatives with comparable material characteristics. The constant development and optimization of SFPs for textile applications initiated more than half a century ago has resulted in a robust and very efficient DWR-technology and textiles with exceptional hydro- and oleo-phobic properties. The industry is now in the predicament that the long-chain SFPs with the best technical performance have undesirable toxicological and environmental behaviour. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the technical performance of presently available fluorinated and non-fluorinated DWRs as part of a chemical alternatives assessment (CAA). The results are based on a study with synthetic outdoor fabrics treated with alternative DWRs and tested for repellency using industrial standard and complementary methods. Using this approach, the complex structure-property relationships of DWR-polymers could be explained on a molecular level. Both short-chain SFPs and non-fluorinated DWRs showed excellent water repellency and durability in some cases while short-chain SFPs were the more robust of the alternatives to long-chain SFPs. A strong decline in oil repellency and durability with perfluoroalkyl chain length was shown for SFP DWRs. Non-fluorinated alternatives were unable to repel oil, which might limit their potential for substitution in textile application that require repellency towards non-polar liquids.
Tags
PFAS
•
PFNA
Litsearch Update 2017-2018
Toxline
Literature Search
Toxline
PFNA May 2019 Update
Toxnet
Title and Abstract Screening
Excluded
Not relevant to PECO
Home
Learn about HERO
Using HERO
Search HERO
Projects in HERO
Risk Assessment
Transparency & Integrity