VIT Fashion Institute of Technology (VFIT), Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai Campus, Chennai, 600127, India.
National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bengaluru, India.
Environ Pollut. 2024 Dec 1;362:124966. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124966. Epub 2024 Sep 14.
Environmental science studies from the past decade have emphasized that microplastics in aquatic environments are mostly caused by domestic laundering of synthetic textiles. Although many studies have explored the microfiber release behavior of fabrics washed in laundry, attempts to witness microfiber release from sewing threads, which are an inevitable part of any finished garment, are meager. With this research gap, this study attempted to analyze the potential of sewing threads to release microfibers during washing and the extent to which they can contribute to the overall microfiber release during domestic laundering. The study's findings revealed an average release of 2.65 ± 0.70 (n = 33) microfibers/m from the sewing thread sewn on the fabric during laundering. The sewing process was noted to cause damage to the sewing thread, which led to a comparatively higher microfiber release (∼114%) compared with the sewing threads that were washed before sewing. Among the selected sewing threads, higher microfiber emissions were reported with spun threads, followed by twistless filaments, and twisted filament threads. The results showed that coarser sewing threads with higher Tex values released more microfibers than finer Tex threads. Compared to the 20 Tex spun thread, the 80 Tex spun thread showed a 22-150% increase in microfiber release. In the case of filament sewing thread, a similar impact was noted, whereas the role of twist was found to be efficient in reducing microfiber emission. Compared to the untwisted filaments, the ply twisted filaments exhibited approximately 76% lower microfiber emissions. The findings of this study showed that sewing thread contributed approximately 1.09% of the total microfiber emissions from apparel during laundry.
过去十年的环境科学研究强调，水生环境中的微塑料主要是由合成纺织品的家庭洗涤造成的。虽然许多研究都探讨了洗衣时织物的微纤维释放行为，但试图观察缝纫线（任何成品服装不可避免的一部分）释放微纤维的尝试却很少。由于存在这一研究空白，本研究试图分析缝纫线在洗涤过程中释放微纤维的潜力，以及它们在家庭洗涤过程中对整体微纤维释放的贡献程度。研究结果显示，在洗涤过程中，缝纫线从缝在织物上的缝纫线中平均释放了 2.65±0.70（n=33）个微纤维/米。缝纫过程被认为会损坏缝纫线，这导致与洗涤前缝纫的缝纫线相比，微纤维释放量更高（约 114%）。在所选择的缝纫线中，股线的微纤维排放量较高，其次是无捻长丝和加捻长丝。结果表明，Tex 值较高的较粗缝纫线比 Tex 值较低的缝纫线释放更多的微纤维。与 20 Tex 股线相比，80 Tex 股线的微纤维释放量增加了 22-150%。在长丝缝纫线的情况下，也注意到了类似的影响，而捻度的作用被发现可以有效地减少微纤维的排放。与无捻长丝相比，多股捻长丝的微纤维排放量降低了约 76%。本研究的结果表明，缝纫线在衣物洗涤过程中对服装总微纤维排放量的贡献约为 1.09%。
