1038 results about "Microfiber" patented technology

The invention relates to the technical field of synthetic leather, in particular to a preparation method of flame-retardant superfine fiber synthetic leather based on a water decrement technology. The method comprises the following steps: dipping pretreatment of PET / PVA sea-island fiber non-woven fabric in a polyvinyl alcohol aqueous solution, synthesis of a modified polyurethane emulsion with fluorine-containing chain modified melamine coated ammonium polyphosphate as a flame-retardant component, multiple padding and water decrement treatment of a composite base material, and sizing finishing by adding a softening agent and an antistatic agent. Through application of fluorine chain modified melamine, dissolution of flame-retardant components in the water decrement process is effectively prevented, meanwhile, the quality of a carbonized layer is improved, and the flame-retardant efficiency is improved. The obtained superfine fiber synthetic leather has excellent flame retardance, good washing resistance and mechanical properties, comfort and high moisture permeability, and is suitable for clothing and special fields with high safety and durability requirements.

Sheets of material used in medical devices and filters are disclosed. The sheets may include a fibrous mat including a plurality of microfibers. The microfibers may include a polymer matrix and a plurality of additive particles. The additive particles may include carbon material particles, therapeutic micro particles, and any combination thereof. Medical devices and filters that use the sheets are disclosed. Methods of producing the sheets are also disclosed.

The invention relates to the technical field of microfiber material preparation, in particular to a preparation method of an insulating flame-retardant automotive interior microfiber material, which comprises the following steps: spinning sea-island fibers by taking PA6 as an island component and LDPE as a sea component and matching with master batches; performing opening, carding, lapping, pre-needling by a pre-needling machine and needling by a needling machine on the sea-island fibers to prepare non-woven fabric; carrying out heat setting on the non-woven fabric; preparing insulating flame-retardant polyurethane slurry, infiltrating the heat-set non-woven fabric to enable the non-woven fabric to be fully impregnated, and then feeding the non-woven fabric into an aqueous solution of dimethylformamide to be subjected to water bath curing, so as to prepare a semi-finished synthetic leather product; extracting sea components in the sea-island fibers from the synthetic leather semi-finished product by adopting a stripping process; and drying the reduced superfine fiber synthetic leather base cloth, immersing the base cloth into a softening agent aqueous solution, and then carrying out drying and leather rubbing treatment to obtain the insulating flame-retardant superfine fiber leather. The product provided by the invention is used for external protection of an intelligent auxiliary driving steering wheel sensing layer, and the resistance of the microfiber material reaches 1.2 megohm or above.

The utility model discloses a composite fiber which comprises a first component, a second component and a third component, the cross section, perpendicular to the length direction, of the composite fiber comprises a plurality of single-component areas and a plurality of separated double-component areas, and every two adjacent double-component areas are separated by a single-component area. The plurality of single-component areas are separated from one another or are connected with one another in the center of the cross section perpendicular to the length direction; the component of the single-component area is a third component, the component of the double-component area comprises a first component and a second component, the first component and the second component are arranged in parallel, the first component and the second component are respectively in contact with the third component, and the single-component area and the double-component area are detachably in contact connection; the composite fiber not only can be directly used, but also can be split into the superfine fiber and the single-component fiber with specific structures, and the elasticity, the glossiness and the strength such as the tearing strength of the superfine fiber are obviously improved at the same time.

The invention discloses a waterproof, anti-crack and moisture-proof self-healing material for a concrete structure and a preparation method thereof, relates to the technical field of concrete, and aims to solve the problems that the mixing degree is poor and the waterproof and moisture-proof effects are reduced due to the fact that various aggregates for improving the strength are added to an existing concrete structure in order to improve the anti-crack strength. The concrete is prepared from the following raw materials by weight: 30%-50% of cement; 5%-30% of sand; 5%-30% of stones; 5%-20% of a reinforcing material; 5%-10% of polymer modified asphalt; 1%-5% of a water reducing agent; 1%-5% of an additive; 1%-5% of a chemical self-healing agent; 1%-5% of a foaming agent; the additive is one or more of a concrete expansive agent, a rapid hardening agent, a plasticizer, a polyurethane type flexible agent and a concrete retarder, and the reinforcing material is one or more of microfibers, slag, fly ash, silane ash and a cellulose material. The cellulose material is one or more of wood, hemp, polypropylene fiber and polyester fiber.

The microfiber leather coating device and the waterproof breathable high-wear-resistance microfiber leather belong to the technical field of cloth surface treatment, when the microfiber leather coating device is used for coating a microfiber leather fabric base material, the microfiber leather fabric base material can be spread in the transverse direction and coated at the same time, the microfiber leather fabric base material passes through the upper portion of the coating device, and the microfiber leather fabric base material is coated with the waterproof breathable high-wear-resistance microfiber leather. Through cooperation of extrusion of a first piston assembly and a second piston assembly and expansion or retraction of a rolling ring set, coating liquid can be sprayed to a microfiber leather fabric base material at a certain speed during coating, the coating effect is improved, the coating liquid comprises aluminum oxide, the hardness and wear resistance of the coating liquid are improved, silicon carbide is further included, and the hardness and wear resistance of the coating liquid are improved. According to the present invention, with the impregnation liquid, the wear resistance and the scraping resistance of the coating liquid can be improved, and the water sprinkling agent is added in the impregnation liquid during the molding of the microfiber leather fabric base material, such that the prepared microfiber synthetic leather has characteristics of high gas permeation, high water vapor permeation and high water resistance.

The ultrafine leather coater and the waterproof and breathable highly wear-resistant ultrafine leather of the present invention belong to the technical field of fabric surface treatment. When the ultrafine leather coater coats the ultrafine leather fabric substrate, the ultrafine leather fabric substrate can be stretched horizontally while being coated. The ultrafine leather fabric substrate passes above the coater. Through the extrusion of the first piston assembly and the second piston assembly and the expansion or retraction of the rolling ring group, the coating liquid can be sprayed onto the ultrafine leather fabric substrate at a certain speed during coating, improving the coating effect. The coating liquid includes alumina, which improves the hardness and wear resistance of the coating liquid, and also includes silicon carbide, which can enhance the wear resistance and scratch resistance of the coating liquid. During the molding of the ultrafine leather fabric substrate, a water repellent is added to the impregnating liquid, making the produced ultrafine fiber synthetic leather have high air permeability, water vapor permeability, and waterproof performance.

The invention provides a positive pole piece and a preparation method thereof and a battery, the positive pole piece comprises a positive current collector and a positive material coated on the positive current collector, the positive material comprises a positive active material, a conductive agent, a liquid retaining agent and an adhesive, the liquid retaining agent comprises superfine fibers, the diameter of the superfine fibers is 400-900mm, and the superfine fibers are added, so that the conductivity of the positive pole piece is improved. The superfine fibers can be filled in the pores of the positive pole piece, and the pores inside the superfine fibers can absorb a large amount of electrolyte, so that the pores inside the superfine fibers are filled with the electrolyte, the electrolyte absorption and retention capabilities of the positive pole piece are greatly improved, and meanwhile, the free electrolyte is greatly reduced, so that the liquid loss after formation and degassing of the battery can be reduced, and the service life of the battery is prolonged. And the long-cycle capacity retention rate and the high-temperature storage capacity retention rate of the battery are improved.

The utility model discloses a spinneret assembly, which comprises a distribution plate and a spinneret plate provided with spinneret orifices, the distribution plate comprises a first runner used for simultaneously introducing a first component and a second component into the spinneret orifices, and a second runner used for introducing a third component into the spinneret orifices; the number of the first flow channels and the number of the second flow channels are respectively multiple, every two adjacent first flow channels are separated by one second flow channel, the multiple second flow channels are mutually separated or the axial leads of the second flow channels are mutually intersected at the same point, and the orthographic projection of the first flow channels and the orthographic projection of the second flow channels are all located in the orthographic projection range of inlets of the spinneret orifices; the spinneret assembly can continuously and stably eject composite fibers with normal sizes and specific structures on the basis of three components, and superfine fibers with at least one excellent effect in the aspects of elasticity, glossiness, strength such as tearing strength and the like can be obtained by removing single-component fibers in the composite fibers.

The application relates to a continuous macro-preparation device and method of a soft and elastic ceramic superfine fiber material, which sequentially comprises a feeding and liquid preparation system, a multi-jet uniform electrostatic spinning system, a low-temperature calcination system and a winding system. Raw materials are mixed, low-temperature dispersed and vacuum concentrated to obtain a sol; the sol and a polymer flow into a polymer mixing device to be mixed and bubble removed; the mixed sol flows into an inorganic component content control device to be pumped by negative pressure to obtain a spinning solution; the spinning solution flows into a multi-jet electrostatic spinning module to adjust and control the temperature, humidity and multi-directional differential speed during spinning to obtain a fiber membrane material or a fiber flake material; the fiber material is sequentially transmitted to a drying area, a microwave pretreatment area, a polymer removal area, an oxygen-poor atmosphere heat treatment area and a cooling area to be calcined in multiple temperature zones to obtain the soft and elastic ceramic superfine fiber material; and winding and packaging are realized to realize the continuous macro-manufacture of the soft and elastic ceramic superfine fiber material.

The invention relates to the technical field of breathable adhesive tapes, in particular to a double-layer composite high-breathability low-sensitivity adhesive tape and a preparation method thereof. The adhesive tape comprises a hydrophobic surface layer material, a high-breathability low-sensitivity composite adhesive and release paper. The high-breathability and low-sensitivity adhesive tape comprises a three-dimensional net-shaped breathable layer and a low-sensitivity adhesive layer. The hydrophobic surface layer material adopts a polyvinylidene fluoride electrostatic spinning nanofiber membrane with high specific surface area and porosity, so that the hydrophobicity and the adhesion with the lower layer material are improved; according to the high-breathability and low-sensitivity adhesive tape, polycaprolactone, a polylactic acid-glycolic acid copolymer and polyurethane are copolymerized to obtain a multifunctional three-dimensional net-shaped breathable layer; the high-breathability and low-sensitivity composite adhesive tape is prepared from dopamine modified polydimethylsiloxane microfibers decorated by oxidized dextran modified vinyl siloxane tip fibers, and the adhesive force and biocompatibility of the adhesive tape and skins with different roughness degrees are enhanced. Meanwhile, the lignosulfonate surfactant is added, so that the reproduction of bacteria and fungi in an adhesive tape attachment area can be inhibited.

The invention relates to a production method and production equipment of anti-mite and antibacterial uncertain island superfine fibers, which belong to the technical field of fiber fabric dipping finishing, and are characterized in that functional treatment of the uncertain island superfine fibers is realized by adding an antibacterial agent and an acaricide into supercritical fluid carbon dioxide, so that the produced superfine fibers have the functions of resisting bacteria and killing mites, and the anti-mite and antibacterial performance of the superfine fibers is improved. In order to well guide and treat the surface of the fabric when the supercritical fluid carbon dioxide is used for treating the surface of the fabric, a plurality of finishing guide roller groups are arranged in a zigzag channel, and each finishing guide roller group comprises a parallelogram adjusting frame and a plurality of spraying rollers arranged on a long rod of the parallelogram adjusting frame; the unfigured island superfine fiber fabric to be treated is wound on the material spraying roller in a staggered winding mode, front and back face dipping of the fabric is achieved through transverse movement of the material spraying roller on the unfigured island superfine fiber fabric to be treated, and dipping is more comprehensive and efficient.

The invention belongs to the technical field of non-woven materials and membrane separation, and particularly relates to a separation membrane supporting body with an interlocking structure and a preparation method thereof.The method comprises the steps that firstly, low-crystallinity and sulfonation-modified superfine polyester fibers are introduced into compact layer slurry, and framework polyester fibers and polyester heat bonding fibers are introduced into framework layer slurry; then forming a double-layer wet net by utilizing a double-flow-channel wet-process net forming device, applying gradient increasing negative pressure on one side of the skeleton layer, and enabling the superfine fibers to migrate from the compact layer to pores of the skeleton layer in a controlled manner by virtue of a viscous dragging effect of directional high-speed water flow on the superfine fibers, so as to form a gradient transition interlocking interface layer; finally, plastic deformation of the low-crystallinity fibers and fusion welding of the bonding fibers are utilized, an interlayer structure is locked through segmented hot pressing of a rough pressing section and a fine pressing section, and then cooling shaping is conducted. The prepared separation membrane support has the advantages of excellent interlayer peel strength, ultralow surface roughness, high air permeability, wide adaptability and high safety of the preparation process.

The invention discloses a warp-resistant mineral reinforced PC / PBT alloy material with dimensional stability and a preparation method thereof, and relates to the technical field of polymer composite materials. The preparation method comprises the following steps: weighing polycarbonate, polybutylene terephthalate, ureido pyrimidone-polydimethylsiloxane, epoxy polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane, polyimide coated halloysite nanotubes, magnesium-aluminum hydrotalcite, perfluoroalkyl modified boron nitride nanosheets, liquid crystal polymer microfibers, modified PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol) fibers and a silane coupling agent KH550 according to a ratio; the preparation method comprises the following steps: pre-mixing polycarbodiimide and a composite antioxidant to obtain a mixture, mixing, adding into a double-screw extruder, extruding and granulating, drying, carrying out injection molding, and standing at constant temperature and constant humidity to obtain the composite material. The invention has the significance of providing the PBT / PC alloy material with dimensional stability, warping resistance, low shrinkage rate, low hygroscopicity, creep resistance, impact resistance, arc resistance and chemical corrosion resistance for consumer-grade and industrial-grade underwater plastic parts.

The invention provides a fiber-reinforced silicon dioxide aerogel composite material, which is characterized in that a fiber felt formed by two kinds of glass fibers is used as a reinforcing material, one kind is hollow short fibers with the average diameter of 5.0-25 microns and the length of 0.5-2.0 mm, the other kind is superfine fibers with the average diameter of 0.6-5.0 microns and the length of 0.5-3.0 mm, and the difference between the average diameters of the two kinds of fibers is at least 3 microns. The fiber reinforced composite material provided by the invention has very strong mechanical properties and very low heat conductivity coefficient, and can exert excellent thermal insulation efficiency as a building thermal insulation material.

The invention relates to a nanofiber membrane and a preparation method and application thereof, the preparation method comprises the following steps: (1) mixing polyurethane, nano lanthanum oxide, a waterproof agent and a solvent to obtain a spinning solution; (2) performing electrostatic spinning on the spinning solution to obtain an electrostatic spinning membrane; and (3) spraying the after-finishing liquid on the electrostatic spinning membrane, and then carrying out heating treatment to obtain the nanofiber membrane. Polyurethane is stretched into superfine fibers through an electrostatic spinning technology, an ultrahigh porous membrane similar to a spider web is prepared, billions of nanopores are formed in per square centimeter of the porous membrane, so that the porous membrane has high air permeability and waterproof and moisture-permeable performance, fibers are bound through a fiber bonding point technology, and the fiber bonding point technology is adopted, so that the waterproof and moisture-permeable performance of the membrane is improved. Therefore, the fabric has excellent washing resistance. The nano lanthanum oxide heating functional particles are added, so that the nanofiber membrane is endowed with heating and heat storage functions, and the washing resistance of the fabric is further improved.

The invention discloses leather-imitated superfine fiber layered synthetic leather and a production process thereof, and belongs to the technical field of synthetic leather. The production process of the synthetic leather comprises the following steps: carrying out superfine fiber alkali treatment and DMC / HEMAP / UV-1 monomer graft copolymerization modification; forming a fiber net by air laying and gradient needling; anionic water-based PU resin containing wood powder is used for impregnation reinforcement, and soft hydrolysis-resistant water-based PU resin is used for coating to form a porous surface layer; and performing wet solidification, bionic embossing, cationic dye dyeing and surface finishing to obtain a finished product. Through fiber modification, gradient structure, bi-component PU cooperation and process optimization, the problems that traditional synthetic leather is hard in hand feeling, poor in breathability, low in texture simulation degree, difficult to dye, weak in interlayer binding force and the like are solved, and the product has high simulation degree and excellent comprehensive performance and stability.

The invention discloses an aerospace electromagnetic shielding material based on modified polytetrafluoroethylene and a preparation method, and belongs to the technical field of nano materials. The method comprises the following steps: by taking polytetrafluoroethylene dispersion resin as a matrix, adding an extrusion aid and carbon nanotubes, stirring, curing, pre-pressing to form a green body, pushing and calendering to prepare a base film, and drying, stretching and mechanically splitting to form a microfiber layer; meanwhile, the polytetrafluoroethylene, the conductive filaments and the conductive reinforcing agent are twisted to prepare a twisted layer; the microfiber layer serves as an outer layer, the twisted layer serves as an inner layer, an electromagnetic shielding layer is woven, finally, the electromagnetic shielding layer is soaked in shielding liquid, dried and subjected to hot press forming, and the electromagnetic shielding material is prepared. According to the material, by constructing a continuous conductive network, excellent electromagnetic shielding effectiveness and low resistance are achieved, and the requirements for light weight, high conductivity and electromagnetic interference resistance in the aerospace field are met. The process parameters are strictly controlled, it is ensured that the fiber structure and the conductivity are optimized, and the method is suitable for electromagnetic protection in the extreme environment.

The invention belongs to the technical field of sofa leather production, and discloses a microfiber suede sofa leather production winding device which comprises a base, a supporting assembly is movably installed at the top end of the base, a machine base is fixedly installed at the top end of the supporting assembly, and a winding roller is movably installed in the middle of the machine base. Clamping grooves are formed in the positions, close to the upper end and the lower end, of the left side and the right side of the machine base correspondingly, limiting clamping plates located on the outer side face of the winding roller are movably clamped into the clamping grooves correspondingly, and limiting assemblies are fixedly installed on the left side and the right side of the machine base correspondingly. Through cooperation between the supporting assembly and the power assembly, the device can rapidly complete the power transmission process only by controlling the supporting assembly to drive the machine base to descend and cooperating with the power assembly, meanwhile, power transmission can be rapidly relieved during dismounting, the whole process is rapidly completed, a complex dismounting process is not needed, and the dismounting efficiency is improved. Rapid separation of the winding roller can be achieved, and the winding efficiency is improved.

The invention belongs to the technical field of waterborne polyurethane suede superfine fiber synthetic leather, and discloses a preparation method of high-wear-resistance waterborne polyurethane double-suede superfine fiber leather, which comprises the following steps: dipping a sea-island fiber non-woven fabric in waterborne polyurethane slurry, carrying out heat treatment on the dipped sea-island fiber non-woven fabric to obtain an intermediate product, and drying the intermediate product to obtain the high-wear-resistance waterborne polyurethane double-suede superfine fiber leather. Adjusting the temperature of the intermediate product to a proper temperature, carrying out roller extrusion on the intermediate product on a roller, drying and curing the intermediate product subjected to roller extrusion, splitting the cured intermediate product by adopting a solvent capable of dissolving and removing the non-woven fabric marine phase material to obtain microfiber base cloth, and finally raising the microfiber base cloth, so as to obtain the non-woven fabric marine phase material. The high-wear-resistance waterborne polyurethane double-suede microfiber leather is obtained. The waterborne polyurethane gathers in the middle of the non-woven fabric to form the substrate layer so as to tightly wrap the fibers, and the problem that the raising effect is affected due to accumulation of the waterborne polyurethane on the raising layer is solved.

The present invention provides a dual-path antistatic film and a preparation method thereof, and relates to the technical field of antistatic films. A dual-path antistatic film comprises the following raw materials in parts by mass: 80-150 parts of polyolefin, 0.00005-0.0002 parts of conductive polymer material, 3-15 parts of antistatic agent, 0-1 parts of lubricant, and 0-0.0001 parts of conductive microfiber. The dual-path antistatic film provided by the present invention has low surface resistivity and excellent antistatic effect.

A microfiber cellulose solid body of which productivity in kneading treatment has been improved, as well as a method for preparing the microfiber cellulose solid body is provided. The microfiber cellulose solid body is formed by compressing a mixture containing resin powder and microfiber cellulose having an average fiber width of 0.1 to 19 μm, wherein the microfiber cellulose solid body has a volume of 6 to 4000 mm3 and a bulk density of 0.3 to 1.0 g / cm3.

The invention discloses modified flow state solidified soil based on a solid waste base and a preparation method of the modified flow state solidified soil. The stabilized soil comprises engineering residue soil, slag, cement, a water reducing agent, wollastonite microfibers subjected to surface modification by a silane coupling agent, an amide monomer, an initiator, an initiator promoter and an early strength agent. Through the synergistic modification effect of in-situ polymerization and wollastonite microfibers, the pressure resistance, crack resistance, toughness and the like of the solidified soil with high solid waste content and high fiber doping amount are remarkably improved. The preparation method is simple, low in cost, convenient to construct and suitable for industrial application.

The invention provides a functional flocculus for improving microcirculation of a human body, which is formed by laying an upper layer fiber web, a middle layer fiber web and a lower layer fiber web, each of the upper layer fiber web and the lower layer fiber web comprises 30-40wt% of negative ion fiber, 30-40wt% of far infrared fiber, 5-20wt% of silicon fiber and 5-20wt% of low melting point fiber, the middle-layer fiber web comprises 40-60 wt% of magnetic fibers, 20-40 wt% of three-dimensional crimp hollow fibers, 10-20 wt% of antibacterial anti-mite fibers, 5-20 wt% of low-melting-point fibers and 5-20 wt% of superfine fibers. The invention further provides a preparation method of the functional flocculus for improving the microcirculation of the human body. Layered design is adopted, negative ion fibers, far infrared fibers, magnetic fibers and antibacterial and anti-mite fibers are used as main materials, superfine fibers, hollow fibers and three-dimensional crimped fibers are matched, a reasonable proportion is adopted, various fiber raw materials are carded into multiple layers of fiber webs, and the multiple layers of fiber webs are matched for use; the functional flocculus shows good heat preservation performance, air permeability and compression resilience, and meanwhile has an excellent function of improving microcirculation of a human body; belongs to the technical field of functional textiles.

A floor cleaning / refurbishment pad that includes a support layer, the support layer having a central region and an outer peripheral edge defining an outer support layer dimension, a loft material layer overlaying the support material layer and connected thereto, the loft material composed of at least one loft material and the microfiber loft material layer having a height HL and an outwardly facing surface and an agitator / abrasive strip overlaying a portion of the support material layer and connected thereto, the agitator strip having a height HA and an outwardly facing surface.

The invention discloses a medical bio-based high-toughness waterproof breathable polyurethane film and a preparation method thereof. The film sequentially comprises a compact bottom layer, a reinforced breathable middle layer and a compact upper layer, the enhanced breathable middle layer is a melt-blown superfine fiber non-woven fabric; the compact upper layer and the compact bottom layer are antibacterial modified bio-based polyurethane film layers. The preparation method comprises the following steps: preparing antibacterial bio-based polyurethane slurry; coating a bottom layer; laying a middle layer; coating and compounding an upper layer; drying and hot-pressing shaping; and post-processing. The hydrostatic pressure resistance of the obtained film is gt; the HO is 75 cm, and the water vapor permeability is gt; the tensile strength gt is 4000 g / m.24 h; the tearing strength is gt; the antibacterial rate gt is 600 mN; the medical film integrates breathability, toughness and waterproofness, is excellent in comprehensive performance, and can meet the use requirements of the medical film.

Provided is a bathrobe which includes a terry fabric woven with a ground thread including a cotton yarn, a terry yarn formed of a core yarn including a nylon and polyester split type microfiber and a cover yarn covering the core yarn, and weft including a hollow yarn, and is light and has excellent heat retention.

The invention relates to the technical field of microfiber flannelette, in particular to flame-retardant antibacterial scratch-resistant water-based resin microfiber flannelette and a preparation method thereof.The flame-retardant antibacterial scratch-resistant water-based resin microfiber flannelette comprises figured island superfine fiber non-woven fabric, reinforcing layers are arranged on the upper surface and the lower surface of the figured island superfine fiber non-woven fabric through polyurethane glue in an adhesive mode, and resin body layers are arranged on the outer surfaces of the reinforcing layers; the reinforcing layer is formed by warp knitting linen fiber yarns and aramid fiber yarns according to the weight ratio of 1: 1; the thickness of the figured island superfine fiber non-woven fabric is 0.4 to 0.5 mm; the thickness of the reinforcing layer ranges from 0.3 mm to 0.4 mm. And the thickness of the resin body layer is 0.2 to 0.3 mm. According to the flame-retardant antibacterial scratch-resistant water-based resin microfiber flannelette disclosed by the invention, the resin body layer, the reinforcing layer and the figured island superfine fiber non-woven fabric are symmetrically arranged up and down, so that the strength stability of the microfiber flannelette is optimized.

The invention relates to preventing microplastics from entering the environment. The invention is directed to filtering and compacting microplastics from any effluent, but in particular to filtering and compacting microfibers from the wastewater of washing machines and other appliances. However, the invention may also be applied in any industry where microparticles are generated, e.g. the industrial manufacture of textiles, or in treating roadside runoff, or where microparticles are handled, e.g. in Waste Water Treatment Plants. The invention is a compactor for automatically extracting and compressing microplastics from waste effluent, the compactor comprising; a chamber with an inlet; at least one plate within the chamber moveable between a non-compressing position and a compressing position, and a drive unit for driving the at least one plate; and a discharge outlet arranged to allow the automatic discharge of compressed microplastics.

A hygienic towel adapted to lay flat on unusually shaped gym equipment is provided. The towel comprises a moisture-wicking, absorbent and quick drying material such as microfiber treated with a wash-resistant antimicrobial solution to effectively inhibit the growth of bacteria and viruses on the material. The towel comprises a plurality of flaps extending from a top end that enable the towel to lay flat over the length of an exercise platform such as a Pilates reformer carriage, accounting in particular for shoulder blocks that generally protrude vertically from the carriage. The towel also comprises friction-increasing elements on its underside as well as a means for removably securing the towel to the exercise platform.