From the Sector

The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) has become the largest department in the United States to transition its entire fleet to non-PFAS turnout gear. The gear was purchased in part through a $2.35 million Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) from FEMA and matching funds from the department, amid growing momentum around identifying PFAS alternatives in firefighting gear.

The department worked with textile innovator Milliken & Company and gear manufacturer Fire-Dex to fulfill the order, whose first shipment was delivered this month. The department plans to receive 1,100 sets of non-PFAS turnout gear, one set for every frontline suppression member, by December 31, 2025.

“As the San Francisco Fire Department continues to lead in innovation, we remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting the health and safety of our members. Firefighting is inherently dangerous, and our personnel deserve access to the most modern, protective, and safest turnout gear available. Transitioning to PFAS-free equipment is a critical step in advancing our mission: safeguarding the public by ensuring our firefighters remain healthy and able to serve at their highest capacity,” said SFFD Fire Chief Dean Crispen.

Chief Crispen added, “This distribution represents more than new gear, it reflects a strong, coordinated effort among the Fire Department, our elected leaders, SF Firefighters IAFF Local 798, and the SF Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation. Milliken and Fire-Dex rose to this challenge, demonstrating what is possible when partners are united by a shared purpose. This collaboration is what the residents and visitors of San Francisco expect and deserve. A protected workforce is the foundation of a protected community. By investing in the well-being of our firefighters, we strengthen the health, resilience, and safety of San Francisco as a whole.” 

The transition follows an ordinance passed in May 2024 making San Francisco the first city in the country to ban the use of PFAS chemicals in its firefighters’ turnout gear. With a June 30, 2026 deadline to make the switch, department officials worked efficiently to procure and test potential solutions, selecting the final gear well ahead of the deadline. 

The selected gear went through rigorous performance and safety testing, including a 90-day wear trial with 50 firefighters going through live fire training at the San Francisco Division of Training burn rooms. The gear is UL certified and meets the NFPA 1971-2018 and 1971-2025 standards. 

While non-fluorinated fabrics have existed for turnout gear outer shells and thermal liners, moisture barrier alternatives remained a key technical challenge. The introduction of Milliken Assure™ — North America’s first non-PFAS, non-halogenated flame-resistant moisture barrier — in October 2024 made it possible for Fire-Dex to provide SFFD with a solution that met all requirements. 

“A non-PFAS moisture barrier was the missing piece for departments wanting to move away from fluorinated chemicals,” said Marcio Manique, SVP and Managing Director of Milliken’s apparel business. “With Assure™, we refused to trade one hazard for another. It meets the strictest performance standards without adding weight or compromising breathability – giving firefighters exactly what they asked for.”

SFFD worked with MES Life Safety to order the garments from Fire-Dex and size each firefighter individually for their new equipment. Milliken and Fire-Dex have maintained a decade of strategic collaboration that delivers fire service innovation and advancement through U.S. research and manufacturing.

“Fire-Dex is honored to supply the San Francisco Fire Department with AeroFlex turnout gear featuring a non-fluorinated moisture barrier,” said Jeff Koledo, Fire-Dex Vice President of Sales. “We’re grateful to work alongside Milliken and MES in delivering this solution. Our goal has always been to provide fire departments across the country with options that meet their needs — and ultimately ensure they have the essential protection required to keep their communities safe.”

San Francisco encompasses 49 square miles and is the fourth largest city in the state of California. The SFFD is the 10th largest fire department in the United States, serving an estimated 1.5 million people. With 45 stations, firefighters respond to an average of 180,000 annual emergency calls. 

Fibre Extrusion Technology Ltd (FET) of Leeds, UK reported another successful exhibition at COMPAMED 2025 in Düsseldorf, following closely on the heels of ITMA ASIA in Singapore. This was the second time that FET had exhibited at this international trade fair for the medical technology supplier sector, a reflection of the company’s growing role in this sector. More than half of FET’s turnover is currently derived from the burgeoning medical market.

COMPAMED is aimed at suppliers of a wide range of high-quality medical technology components, services and production equipment for the medical industry. FET’s expanding role in the medical sector is therefore an ideal fit for this trade show.

At the exhibition, FET launched its latest ground breaking technology with the FET-500 – Gel Spinning systems for Ultra High Molecular weight polymers such as UHMWPE, boasting significant savings in cost, footprint and environmental factors.  With vast flexibility whilst maintaining critical consistency, the FET-500 provides the ability to prove concepts and secure medical device IP. Key benefits include removing the harsh processing chemicals that historically have been used with gel spinning technology. FET’s patent-pending process technology has enabled the process to be compact and environmentally friendly compared to industrial alternatives. 

In 2026, FET will be exhibiting at two major trade shows to continue its global drive. This begins with Techtextil, Frankfurt in April, followed by COMPAMED 2026, Dusseldorf in November.

Outlast Technologies GmbH has been awarded the WTiN Innovate Textile Award in the cate-gory Material Innovation for Aersulate®, its aerogel-infused insulation technology. The award honors outstanding achievements in advanced material development and textile innovation.

Aersulate® marks a significant advancement in thermal insulation. The technology integrates aerogel, whose highly porous structure efficiently traps air, delivering exceptional thermal per-formance at extremely low weight and minimal thickness. In Aersulate® wadding, aerogel ac-counts for approximately 50% of the material volume, enabling superior insulation without bulk.

Their minimal space requirements enable entirely new applications and make solutions possible that were previously unfeasible due to limited available space. At the same time, Aersulate® fabrics and waddings retain nearly all of their performance even under compression and humidi-ty. Unlike conventional insulation materials, they provide reliable thermal insulation and com-fort under demanding conditions. This makes Aersulate® a powerful solution for applications where consistent performance is essential, regardless of environment or use.

Reflecting the strategic relevance of the innovation, Outlast is positioning Aersulate® for broad market adoption. “We will deploy our Aersulate® fabrics and waddings across multiple high-value product segments - including bedding, safety equipment, footwear, and apparel. Our goal is clear: to establish Aersulate® as a scalable performance solution with broad market applicability wherever thermal management, comfort, and lightweight insulation make the difference,” said Martin Bentz, CEO of Outlast Technologies GmbH.

Reflecting on the award recognition, Bentz emphasized that working with aerogel represents one of the most demanding challenges in material innovation. Extremely lightweight yet highly frag-ile, aerogel is difficult to process, integrate, and stabilize within textile structures. Transforming this exceptional but complex material into scalable, durable fabrics and waddings requires deep material expertise, precision engineering, and sustained research efforts.

“Winning this award makes us genuinely proud. It is a strong recognition of our work and a clear confirmation that we are on the right path with innovative insulation solutions like Aersulate® - solutions that resonate with market needs and set new standards for performance,” Bentz add-ed.

The global buildings and infrastructure (B&I) market for composite materials accelerates toward a projected value of more than $21 billion in 2025. To identify further business potentials for the composite industry, AZL Aachen GmbH has announced a new inte rnational Joint Market and Technology Study: “Next Generation Composites in Buildings & Infrastructure – A 2026 Global Outlook on Growth, Sustainability, and Digitalization.”

Building on the success of AZL’s landmark Buildings & Infrastructure study – conducted in 2017 with 32 global companies – this new initiative will reassess established applications and quantify emerging opportunities across markets, materials, and manufact uring technologies. The addressed market segments comprise following, among others: residential/ non -residential buildings and city furniture, infrastructure for energy supply/ water supply/electricity and heat supply and storage as well as special constr uctions like airports, ports or train stations.

Based on this preliminary work in which 438 attractive products/ applications/ technologies have been identified and analyzed, this new study will re -evaluate previously identified core applications using fresh 2025 market data, updated growth forecasts, and new competitive benchmarking. Furthermore, AZL will identify and quantify new growth potentials driven by sustainability (circular economy, LCA -driven mat erial choice, bio -composites), by digitalization (e.g., integration with BIM, sensor -equipped "smart" components) and by new applications (e.g., hydrogen infrastructure, modular data centers, etc.).

The 9 -month project will deliver a structured market segmentation, technology and value -chain mapping, application screenings, technology trees, fact sheets, comparative KPI matrices, and expert workshops – providing participants with a practical foundatio n for business development, investment strategy, and innovation planning. Results will be delivered in a comprehensive final report and presentation package. Additionally, the results from the former 2017 B&I study will also be made available in the new st udy together with the final report and will be used as a basis for discussion and reflection on the results in the course of the new market and technology study. 

Participation is open to material suppliers, processors, equipment manufacturers, engineering service providers, system integrators and construction companies across the entire value chain. The project kick -off meeting is on February 26th 2026 (online).

Call for Participants: Companies aiming to shape the future of composite solutions in buildings and infrastructure are invited to join the consortium.
For further information or to secure participation: Philipp Fröhlig, Head of Industrial Services Email: philipp.froehlig@azl-aachen-gmbh.de

Autoneum today announced it repays in full its 1.125% fixed-rate bond due December 8, 2025, with a nominal value of CHF 100 million. The Swiss franc public bond was issued in 2017 and served, among other purposes, to finance the company’s medium-term growth.

Autoneum repaid the bond using existing credit lines on favorable terms. The repayment reflects a sustainable reduction of the company’s net debt over recent years, driven by significant free cash flow generation.

“With the repayment of this bond, we reaffirm our financial solidity and our clear commitment to further reducing debt in the future,” says Bernhard Wiehl, CFO Autoneum. “We thank our bond investors for their long-standing trust in Autoneum.”

The development of sustainable plastic solutions is rapidly gaining importance in light of global environmental pollution, dwindling fossil resources and ambitious climate protection targets. As part of the regional alliance RUBIO, which brings together 18 partners from central Germany and the Berlin-Brandenburg area, the bio-based and biodegradable plastic polybutylene succinate (PBS) was comprehensively investigated, starting with the raw material, through the manufacturing process, to industrial application. The aim was to evaluate the potential of PBS as an environmentally friendly alternative to polyethylene and to create the technological basis for new sustainable value chains. As a partner in the alliance, STFI was able to demonstrate that the bioplastic PBS is suitable for textile processing using the example of a net for straw bales. 

The starting point: bioplastics sought as a substitute for PE
Increasing reports of macro and microplastics everywhere on earth, the finite nature of fossil re-sources, EU climate protection targets, and the call for CO2 reduction compel all stakeholders, especially the plastics industry, to act promptly. Bio-based and simultaneously biodegradable plastics ap-pear to be valuable raw materials for many applications, ranging from the packaging industry to the textile sector and agriculture. The aim of this project was comprehensive investigation of polybutylene succinate (PBS) from raw material to its industrial applicability. In order to qualify the biopolymer as a substitute for polyethylene (PE), its material properties were tested and evaluated with regard to their suitability for a wide range of applications.

The textile processing of the bioplastic PBS
During project work, STFI main task was to explore opportunities and limits of technological processing of PBS materials (resins, film, nonwoven fabric, ribbons) into textile end products. Investigations were carried out on processing behavior of resins to nonwoven fabrics, followed by cutting processes into narrow ribbons, as well as studies on cutting and stretching PBS films and resins into ribbons. Subsequently, these ribbons were used to produce surfaces on knitting and weaving ma-chines. As a result, nonwoven fabrics, ribbons, and textile structures are available, which will be further optimized in subsequent projects. It has been possible to develop a knitted straw bale net that meets the requirements regarding mechanical properties of DLG (German Agricultural Society) for novel bio-based plastics.

Success and outlook
The results include spunbonded fabrics, ribbons and textile structures. A knitted straw bale net has been successfully developed that meets the requirements of the DLG (German Agricultural Society) for innovative bio-based plastics in terms of mechanical properties. 

The focus for the future is on optimising textile production processes for the bioplastic PBS. The RUBIO2Value project was launched in December and will focus on applications such as injection-moulded reusable packaging, textiles and geotextiles, but also disposable packaging in upcoming studies by the consortium. At STFI, established textile processes are being converted to sustainable and renewable raw materials in order to use recycled or biodegradable materials for sustainable production.

Imagine a road cyclist or downhill skier whose clothing adapts to their wind speed, allowing them to shave time just by pulling or stretching the fabric.

Such cutting-edge textiles are within reach, thanks to researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). Led by SEAS mechanical engineering graduate student David Farrell, a study published in Advanced Materials describes a new type of textile that uses dimpling to adjust its aerodynamic properties while worn on the body. The research has potential to change not only high-speed sports, but also industries like aerospace, maritime, and civil engineering.

The research is a collaboration between the labs of Katia Bertoldi, the William and Ami Kuan Danoff Professor of Applied Mechanics, and Conor J. Walsh, the Paul A. Maeder Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences.  

On-demand golf ball dimples
Farrell, whose research interests lie at the intersection of fluid dynamics and artificially engineered materials, or metamaterials, led the creation of a unique textile that forms dimples on its surface when stretched, even when tightly fitted around a person’s body. The fabrics utilize the same aerodynamic principles as a golf ball, whose dimpled surface causes a ball to fly further by using turbulence to reduce drag. Because the fabric is soft and elastic, it can move and stretch to change the size and shape of the dimples on demand.  

Adjusting dimple sizes can make the fabric perform better in certain wind speeds by reducing drag by up to 20%, according to the researchers’ experiments using a wind tunnel.

“By performing 3,000 simulations, we were able to explore thousands of dimpling patterns,” Farrell said. “We were able to tune how big the dimple is, as well as its form. When we put these patterns back in the wind tunnel, we find that certain patterns and dimples are optimized for specific wind-speed regions.”

Farrell and team used a laser cutter and heat press to create a dual-toned fabric made of a stiffer black woven material, similar to a backpack strap, and a gray softer knit that’s flexible and comfortable. Using a two-step manufacturing process, they cut patterns into the woven fabric and sealed it together with the knit layer to form a textile composite. Experimenting with multiple flat samples patterned in lattices like squares and hexagons, they systematically explored how different tessellations affect the mechanical response of each textile material.

Lattice pattern
The textile composite’s on-demand dimpling is the result of a lattice pattern that Bertoldi and others have previously explored for its unusual properties. Stretch a traditional textile onto the body, and it will smooth out and tighten. “Our textile composite breaks that rule,” Farrell explained. “The unique lattice pattern allows the textile to expand around the arm rather than clamp down.

“We’re using this unique property that [Bertoldi] and others have explored for the last 10 years in metamaterials, and we’re putting it into wearables in a way that no one’s really seen before,” Farrell said. 

The paper was co-authored by Connor M. McCann and Antonio Elia Forte. The research had federal support from the National Science Foundation under award No. DMR-2011754. The Harvard Office of Technology Development has safeguarded the innovations associated with this research and is exploring commercial opportunities.

Ultrafiltration membranes used in pharmaceutical manufacturing and other industrial processes have long relied on separating molecules by size. Now, Cornell researchers have created porous materials that filter molecules by their chemical makeup.

Two molecules of identical size and weight but different chemistry, such as antibodies with distinct molecular structure, are difficult to separate using current ultrafiltration (UF) membrane technology. But in a study published Nov. 13 in Nature Communications, researchers find that blending chemically distinct block copolymer micelles – tiny self-assembling polymer spheres – could be applied to making membranes capable of filtering molecules by chemical affinity.

Scanning electron microscopy image (left) shows the surface of a porous asymmetric UF membrane created at Cornell by mixing chemically distinct block copolymer micelles. Machine-learning segmentation (right) identified patterns formed by different micelle types and chemistries, revealing how the approach could lead to UF membranes that sort by chemical affinity.

“This is the first real pathway to creating UF membranes with chemically diverse pore surfaces,” said Ulrich Wiesner, the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and the study’s senior author. “In principle, post-fabrication processes may achieve this, but the cost would be prohibitive for industry to adopt it. This new approach could truly revolutionize ultrafiltration.”

Taking inspiration from nature – such as protein channels in cells that can distinguish between similar-sized metal ions using pore wall chemistry – lead author Lilly Tsaur, Ph.D. ’24, of the Wiesner group, explored how neutral and repulsive interactions among micelles influence their self-assembly within the top separation layer. By combining up to three distinct block copolymers, the team demonstrated how these competing interactions control where different chemistries appear in the pores of the film’s surface.

“While in principle this is a really simple idea, in practice, developing this experimentally is really difficult,” said Wiesner, also a professor in the Department of Design Tech. “In particular, identifying where the different micelle chemistries are located in the top separation layer is nontrivial.”

Using scanning electron microscopy, Tsaur imaged hundreds of samples to study how the different micelles arranged themselves. Because imaging could not easily identify the chemistries, she used machine learning to detect subtle differences in pore patterns to identify where each micelle type appeared.

Co-author Fernando A. Escobedo, the Samuel W. and M. Diane Bodman Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (Cornell Engineering), ran molecular simulations to help reveal rules that govern how the micelles self-organize – a challenge due to the large number of micelles and their tendency to assemble into states relatively far from equilibrium.

“This necessitated the use of highly coarse-grained models and numerous calibrations to capture the time and length scales involved in the experimental process,” said Escobedo, who conducted the research with Luis Nieves-Rosado, Ph.D. ’25.

The study builds on the Wiesner group’s previous advances in block copolymer self-assembly that led to the founding of Terapore Technologies, a startup company led by Rachel Dorin, Ph.D. ’13, that uses the group’s scalable block copolymer process to make cost-effective UF membranes that separate viruses from biopharmaceuticals. The new research paves the way for companies to use the same manufacturing process to produce membranes that can perform affinity separations based on programming pore surface chemistry.

“Companies simply want to change the recipe, the ‘magic dust,’ that goes into the same process they’ve been using for decades in order to give membranes chemically diverse pore surfaces,” Wiesner said. “Our method has the potential to lead to a paradigm shift in UF-based operations, and to open a whole new avenue for how to use UF membranes.”

Beyond filtration, the research could lead to new materials with novel properties for applications such as smart coatings that respond to their environment and biosensors that detect specific molecules. Wiesner’s group is continuing the work and developing methods to probe deeper into the top separation layer of these materials to see how the chemical patterns extend below the surface.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and was enabled by the Cornell Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and the Cornell Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility.