Materials

Fabrics

Stories

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Briefs: Connectivity
Purdue University engineers have developed a method to transform existing cloth items into battery-free wearables resistant to laundering. These smart clothes are powered wirelessly through a flexible, silk-based coil sewn on the textile. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Energy
The novel solar concentrators can be applied to textile fibers without the textile becoming brittle and susceptible to cracking or accumulating water vapor in the form of sweat. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A new groundbreaking “smart glove” is capable of tracking the hand and finger movements of stroke victims during rehabilitation exercises. The glove incorporates a sophisticated network of highly sensitive sensor yarns and pressure sensors that are woven into a comfortable stretchy fabric. Read on to learn more about the smart glove.
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Briefs: Materials
A durable, copper-based coating developed by a team at Dartmouth University can be integrated into fabric to create responsive, reusable materials such as protective equipment, environmental sensors, and smart filters.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Dr. Song Kahye along with Professor Lee, Dae-Young have jointly developed a soft gripper with a woven structure that can grip objects weighing more than 100 kg with 130 g of material. To increase the loading capacity of the soft robot gripper, the team applied a new structure inspired by textiles.
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Briefs: Materials
A new smart material is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. The work paves the way for a wide variety of potential applications, including clothing that warms up while you walk.
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Briefs: Wearables
The thermoelectric textile produces a small amount of electricity when heated on one side.
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Briefs: Wearables
The fibers measure subtle and complex fabric deformations.
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Briefs: Materials
This new approach is useful for building radiation shields via the Z-grading method, the process of layering metal materials with different atomic numbers to provide radiation protection for protons, electrons, and x-rays.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The technology allows for higher surface conductivity, improved impedance control, expanded design and application potential, and greater choice of materials for optimized performance.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
By incorporating a special type of plastic yarn and using heat to slightly melt it — a process called thermoforming — the researchers were able to greatly improve the precision of pressure sensors woven into multilayered knit textiles, which they call 3DKnITS.
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Briefs: Materials
Applications include a smart fabric for exoskeletons, an adaptive cast that adjusts its stiffness as an injury heals, or a deployable bridge that could be unrolled and stiffened.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A research team developed a thread made of conductive cellulose that offers practical possibilities for electronic textiles. Sewing the electrically conductive cellulose threads into a...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Living materials made by housing biological cells within a nonliving matrix have gained popularity as scientists recognize that often the most robust materials are those that...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Wearable electronic components incorporated directly into fabrics have been developed that could be used for flexible circuits, healthcare monitoring, energy conversion, and other applications. Graphene...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The flexible, washable microgrid uses the human body to sustainably power small electronics.
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Briefs: Materials
The device ultimately should be able to provide accurate signals from a person who is walking, running, or climbing stairs.
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Briefs: Materials
The Slinky-like sensor survives washing machines, cars, and hammers.
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Briefs: Energy
Invisibly small nanotubes aligned as fibers and sewn into fabrics can turn heat from the Sun or other sources into energy.
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Briefs: Nanotechnology
The coatings eradicated human influenza and coronavirus in five minutes.
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Briefs: Materials
These textiles could help performers and athletes train their breathing and potentially help patients recovering from post-surgery breathing changes.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
A method converts cotton into sugar, which can be turned into spandex, nylon, or ethanol.
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Briefs: Wearables
Textiles and items of clothing can be converted into e-textiles without affecting their original properties.
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Briefs: Wearables
The technology shines through fabrics to show notifications for email messages, time, weather, or other forms of basic information.
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The fiber contains memory, temperature sensors, and a trained neural network program for inferring physical activity.
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5 Ws: Materials
Fibers sewn into fabrics can turn heat from the Sun into energy that could power textile electronics.
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Briefs: Materials
Comfortable, form-fitting garments could be used to remotely track patients’ health.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Flexible carbon nanotube fibers woven into clothing gather accurate EKG and heart rate.
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Articles: Materials
Nanotube fibers that turn heat to power; a NASA antenna system; and an antimicrobial coating.
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