Hasta La Gadget!

Feb 27

Washing machine uses beads for clear savings

(Credit: Xeros)

Everyone knows a washing machine requires water and detergent to clean your clothes.

So when you think about halving that amount of water and adding beads — yes, imagine beads flinging around in the washing machine — into the equation, it might sound a little off.

But that wasn’t the case for University of Leeds’ Stephen Burkinshaw, professor of textile chemistry, and his students.

They have developed a washing machine that uses nearly 1.5 million tiny polymer beads mixed with a small cup of water and detergent to thoroughly clean one load of laundry.

The beads physically dislodge dirt, and work against creasing by weighing down the fabric. According to an article in AIP Scitation, “Nylon readily takes up dye, and forming the polymer into round beads yielded the most effective stain extractor.” The beads were refined from there to be more effective.