![\"Professors](\"https:\/\/clemson.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/FOREVER-Chris-Cole-and-Phil-Brown-300x200.jpg\")
Professors Chris Cole (left) and Philip Brown.<\/p><\/div>
\nWith key support from the Walmart Foundation and its U.S. Manufacturing Innovation Fund, Clemson textile experts are working with the world\u2019s most widely used fiber, polyester, to develop technologies that will make dyeing it more economical and environmentally friendly.
\nChris Cole, a faculty member in materials science and engineering, has extensive experience in both textile and apparel design and fabrication, while her collaborator, Philip Brown, also a faculty member in materials science and engineering, is recognized nationally and internationally for his work in designing and extruding textile fibers.
\nThe nearly $1 million award from the Walmart Foundation allows the research team to pursue three primary research objectives: reduce the amount of dyestuff required to color polyester; reduce the energy required to color polyester; and lower the amount of colored effluent from polyester dyeing processes. Effluent is the liquid waste remaining from the dyeing process, and as Cole has noted, \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of dye used in dyeing polyester to be able to get the colors that we all know and love like our bright Clemson orange.\u201d
\nThe award was announced by the Walmart Foundation and the U.S. Conference of Mayors at the 2016 meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. Clemson is one of five universities conducting research through this opportunity, which is focused on supporting research that strives to create new manufacturing technologies and to reduce the cost of producing goods in the U.S. with the ultimate goal of creating jobs that support America\u2019s growing manufacturing base. Clemson\u2019s award is supporting 2\u00bd years of research.
\nWithin Clemson\u2019s Olin Hall is a unique machine that has enabled the research team to design a polyester fiber that will dye more easily. \u201cThe funding provided by the Walmart Foundation has allowed me to build this machine \u2014 something that has never been done before \u2014 and it\u2019s phenomenal,\u201d said Brown. \u201cThere\u2019s only one in the world.\u201d Researchers in the industry have attempted to dye polyester using copolymers, but due to fiber manufacturing technology limitations, they typically used a single polymer. This technology also suffered a very poor wash fastness unlike the technology Brown and his researchers have developed. \u201cWe might dye a fabric a brilliant orange, but after it was laundered a few times you could see the color was starting to fade with these other polymers,\u201d said Cole. \u201cBecause of Dr. Brown\u2019s expertise and the facilities we have at Clemson, we can now build fibers where we can take advantage of being able to get the dye in quickly with intense colors and excellent dye pickup by the fibers. We\u2019re not leaving as much dye behind at the end of the cycle, but at the same time we\u2019re going to be able to get the wash fastness and the light fastness that the commercial market requires.\u201d
\nMaterials science and engineering makes it a priority to get students involved in projects that provide them with hands-on research experience. \u201cBy being part of a major research project, students can see the techniques that we use, how to design a large project, how to build a team effectively for a large project and the communication skills you have to have,\u201d said Cole. Another benefit is that students are introduced to the manufacturers who are their potential employers. With another award from the U.S. Manufacturing Innovation Fund announced this year, these two researchers are optimistic about expanding their research program to look at how they might develop polyester fibers that achieve a high level of water and oil repellency at lower economic and environmental cost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With key support from the Walmart Foundation and its U.S. Manufacturing Innovation Fund, Clemson textile experts are working with the world\u2019s most widely used fiber, polyester, to develop technologies that will make dyeing it more economical and environmentally friendly. Chris Cole, a faculty member in materials science and engineering, has extensive experience in both textile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":17030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[683,881,884,2384,2391],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-17301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clemson-forever","tag-clemson-forever","tag-cw-spring-2017","tag-cw-spring-2017-forever","tag-research","tag-research-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/04\/FOREVER-Chris-Cole-and-Phil-Brown.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17301"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=17301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}