CEU: How PFAS Affects Performance Textiles

Join Dr. Cristi Bell-Huff to learn more about the compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) comprise a class of thousands of manmade chemicals used across wide swathes of daily life. While the presence of PFAS in contaminated wastewater has made headlines, less attention has been given to PFAS in performance textiles (those that provide additional functions like repelling, resisting, or protecting from a specific element, like water or stains). PFAS have been used for nearly 80 years in a variety of consumer products and are found in upholstery fabrics. PFAS can be released from these textiles through several mechanisms including chemical breakdown during laundering, evaporation of volatile PFAS as a residual from the fabric, and loss of particles and fiber fragments by abrasion. Learn what designers need to know about PFAS.

Dr. Cristi Bell-Huff is a Research Manager with Chemical Insights Research Institute. She manages and tracks strategic research initiatives and develops internal and external technical documents and summaries of findings. Dr. Bell-Huff previously served as a Lecturer and the Director of Faculty and Student Training in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.

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