Glossary

All you have to know about Bionic!

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Abrasion: Abrasion means removing material, e.g. by emerising, rubbing or sandblasting.
Additive: Additives are auxiliary agents that are added to products or similar things to obtain specific properties.
Aerodynamics: Aerodynamics is a branch of fluid mechanics and describes the flow behaviour of gases.
After-care system: Products that can be used by end-users at home for post-impregnating or revitalising.
Anti-wicking: English term for the non-wettability of textile surfaces.
Breathable membrane: Thin layers, e.g. made of polytetrafluoroethylene, with fine pores that are big enough to allow water vapour through, but not water in liquid form. Water and windproof garments can be manufactured with these membranes, which transport skin moisture away from the body.
Exhaust method: A discontinuous process for dyeing or finishing textiles. In the exhaust method the substances to be applied are dissolved or dispersed in water. According to the varying affinity of different substrates, chemicals and textile auxiliaries are added to the liquor at once, in several portions or at intervals. During a defined time/temperature profile as well as a controlled movement of the material and/or liquor, the substances strike uniformly onto the material.
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Biomineralisation: Biomineralisation is a process producing mineral products via living organisms.
Biomolecular: A term describing biochemical processes on a molecular level.
BIONIC-FINISH RUDOLF®: Registered trade name of the new water-repellent system from RUDOLF GROUP.
Bionic: The term “Bionic“ expresses how principles taken from biology are used for technical applications. In general, Bionic deals with decoding inventions of nature and their innovative implementation in techniques.
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CF₃-group: A molecule where three fluorine atoms are bonded to a carbon atom.
CH₃-group: A molecule where three hydrogen atoms are bonded to a carbon atom.
Co-crystallisation: Crystallisation is the process of forming crystals. In co-crystallisation different substances or different structural elements of a molecule crystallise simultaneously, frequently by forming ordered structures.
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Dendrimer: Dendrimers (Greek dendros – tree) are chemical compounds whose structure is formed like a tree; one talks of dendrimers if this structure consists of repeating units. They hence have to be branched, otherwise one obtains a chain. There can be one or more bonding points; they thus belong to the group, polymers.
Dual effect: Latin dualis “containing two“; showing two effects at the same time.
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Electron microscope: An electron microscope reveals the surface of a sample utilising electrons. The resolution of an electron microscope is distinctly higher (currently ca. 0.1 nm) than that of an optical microscope (ca. 200 nm).
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R&D work: R&D is the abbreviation for research and development.
Thread breakage: If a thread of wovens or knitted goods is damaged during sewing, one talks of thread breakage.
Fibre fly: Fibre abrasions that arise, above all, in yarn processing due to mechanical influences.
FC: Abbreviation for fluorocarbon; describes fluorocarbon compounds.
Fluorine: Fluorine is the chemical element in the periodic system of elements with the symbol F and ordinal number 9.
Fluorocarbon finish: A fluorocarbon finish means finishing a substrate with fluorocarbon polymers to confer water- and soil-repellent properties.
Fluorocarbon chain: A line of fluorinated carbon atoms.
Fluorocarbon polymer: Fluorocarbon polymers are polymers with fluorocarbon molecules as the structural element. See also polymer.
Fluorocarbon side chain: Fluorinated carbon atoms in the side chain of a polymer.
Functional compartmentalising: Dividing a space into areas of functionality.
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Galette: Machine for applying products to yarn.
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Hydrodynamic form: Hydrodynamics (fluid dynamics) is a branch of fluid mechanic science that deals with agitated liquids and gases. Hydrodynamic forms excel in areas of particularly low flow resistance.
Hydrodynamic law: The fundamental rules of hydrodynamics.
Hydrophobic effect: The condition of substances of being water-repellent.
Hydrophobic system: A product used for obtaining water repellency on a substrate.
Hydrophobic finish: Hydrophobic finishes confer water-repellent properties to a substrate.
Hydroxylic apatite crystal: A mineral of the group of apatites. Collective term for certain minerals.
Hyperbranched: See dendrimers.
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Hydrocarbon chain: Hydrocarbons are compounds consisting of carbon and hydrogen. Hydrocarbon chains are linear arrangements of C-H groups.
Hydrocarbon matrix: A matrix is something that surrounds another thing, an abstract structure, within which something is ordered. In this case hydrocarbons serve as a matrix.
Collagen fibril: Collagen is a protein of the connective tissue in man and animals. Fibrils are important components of vegetable cell walls and animal cells, especially in muscles and connective tissue. The fine, long structures above all consist of proteins (animals) or polysaccharides (plants). These are condensed filaments (thread-like protein formations) arranged in series.
Comparmentalising: See functional compartmentalising.
Made-up textile: In normal usage, the production of garments.
Continuous application: Generally, continuous application is the wet treatment of textiles, mainly by pad application. The fabric is passed through the trough containing the liquor, which can be a finishing liquor, or dye solution, in open width. The finished substrate is then passed through two or more pairs of rollers which squeeze the liquor surplus to an exact quantity. Finally, the substrate is dried.
Continuous process: See continuous application.
Crystallisation process: See co-crystallisation.
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Lotus effect: The Lotus effect refers to the extremely low wettability and high self-cleaning of biological surfaces, amongst others the Lotus plant. On the flowers and leaves even extremely tenacious dyestuff powder is easily rinsed away; not even water-based glue adheres to the surface.
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Macroscopy: Macroscopy ("rough examination/contemplation") is a way of looking at things limited to structures visible with the naked eye, or it examines systems according to their statistical parameters.
Martindale abrasion test: The Martindale method is the most frequently used procedure to determine the abrasion resistance of textiles, especially upholstery. The method simulates the natural wear of textiles by rubbing a sample of the fabric to be tested against a woollen standard fabric with a standard weight.
Matrix additive: See hydrocarbon matrix and additive.
Membrane: See breathable membrane.
Metal-salt-containing paraffin emulsion: A mixture of saturated hydrocarbons and salts of long-chained carboxylic acids.
Molecule: A molecule is a particle consisting of at least two atoms, connected by covalent bonds.
Monomolecular film: A film with a layer thickness of only the diameter of one of its molecules.
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NANO: The prefix of a unit of measurement (10-9). Terms such as nanotechnology and nanoscience are derived from it.
Nanostructure: Structures in a scale of 10-9 m. Such nanostructures are often used to render surfaces soil- and water-repellent.
NANO-technology: In popular science Nanotechnology (Greek nános = dwarf) refers to the research in areas of physics, chemistry and, so far very limited, in branches of machine construction. This collective term is based on the scale - which is the same in all Nano-research areas - of an individual atom of up to a size of 100 nanometres (nm). A nanometre is the billionth part of a metre (10-9 m).
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Surface energy: Surface energy refers to forces arising e.g. between liquids and gases that are in contact with each other. They form a joint interface, which is under surface tension.
Surface tension: See surface energy.
Oil-repellency: Condition when the substrate is rendered oleophobic.
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Persistent compound: Persistent compounds are substances which are not affected by physical, chemical or biological processes.
Water-repellent concentrate: Highly concentrated products used for rendering surfaces water- and oil-repellent.
Polar fleece: Fleece is the expression for knitted fur made of polyester. Due to a certain fabric thickness, polar fleece is a special type of fleece with a high thermal insulation capacity.
Polylayer: Multiple layers.
Polymer: A polymer is a chemical compound of chain or branched molecules (macromolecules) that consist of identical or similar units (the so-called monomers).
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Riblet: Structural element of the shark’s skin.
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Silicone: Silicones are high-molecular compounds based on a three-dimensional structure of alternating silicon and oxygen atoms.
Synergism: Synergy or synergism is a combination of living things, substances or forces in the sense of "mutual support". The statement "The whole is more than the sum of its parts." paraphrases synergy.
Synthesis: Synthesis (verb: to synthesise) means combining two or more elements (components) to a new unit.
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Triple helix: Helix is an ordered structure that is built up similar to a corkscrew, spiral staircase, or snail. With collagen there are structures consisting of three wound-around-each-other polypeptide chains, which are called triple helix.
Triple effect: Describes the triple effect of RUCO-STAR DDD, which confers improved yarn gliding properties as well as oil- and water-repellent effects.