Evaluation of the possibility of using copolymer electrospun membranes in smart reactive fabrics

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Albarrie has developed smart reactive fabrics used, as geo textiles where high-power transformers are installed.**These smart reactive fabrics provide oil containment in case of accidental leaks. The smart reactive fabrics**developed by Albarrie consists of three layers: an oil absorbent block copolymer is inserted via needle punch**between two layers of polypropylene. When in contact with oil, the absorbent block copolymer gellifies and**seals the smart reactive fabric preventing any soil contamination by the oil. Recently, new natural ester-based**transformer-insulating-oils have been introduced to the market. The smart reactive fabrics developed by**Albarrie are unfortunately too slow for containment of these types of oil.**One could think that if the surface area of the copolymers is increased, the time for oil containment by the**polymer could decrease. One possibility to increase the surface area of the copolymers is to use them in the**form of nanofibers that can be obtained by electrospinning.**This project aims therefore at studying the possibility of improving the reaction rate of Albarrie super**absorbent polymer for high power transformer secondary oil containment application, with an emphasis on**natural ester-based oil, using membranes of nanofibers.