* Available free with Membership! Find out more
The development of smart fabrics requires many different technologies to be brought together effectively including textile technology, electronics, printing, plastics processing, and knowledge of special and emerging materials such as electroactive polymers. For these reasons, the industry has tended to progress via alliances and partnerships and this becomes clear when looking at the range of products and projects currently taking place.
This study provides a comprehensive overview of smart material technologies and how they are incorporated into smart fabrics. It also reviews the range of research projects which have been carried out in recent years or are still in progress and profiles the latest smart fabric applications.
You'll find out about:
• Key drivers and barriers affecting the market
• The latest technology and materials being used in smart fabrics
• New applications developed by current commercial projects
Contents include:
Introduction and methodology
Overview
Markets
• Key barriers to exploitation of smart textiles
• Key drivers to the exploitation of smart textiles
• Key players
• Current state of commercialisation
- Background
- Current position
• A taxonomy for smart fabrics
• Wearable electronics
- Performance requirements for the use of wearable electronics in healthcare
• Wearable computing
Technologies and materials
• Electrical conductivity
- Conducting fibres and yarns
- Metallic fibre conductors
- Carbon fibre conductors
- Inherently conducting polymer fibres
- Filled conducting fibres
- Coated conducting fibres and fabrics
- Bicomponent conducting fibres
- Comparison of the conductivities
- Methods of incorporating conducting yarns into fabrics
- Printed circuits on fabrics
- Printed electronics
• Electroactive polymers as sensors and actuators
- Metallic fibre conductors
- Carbon fibre conductors
- Inherently conducting polymer fibres
- Filled conducting fibres
- Coated conducting fibres and fabrics
- Bicomponent conducting fibres
- Comparison of the conductivities
- Methods of incorporating conducting yarns into fabrics
- Printed circuits on fabrics
- Printed electronics
• Electroactive polymers as sensors and actuators
• Nanomaterials and textiles
• Optical fibres
• Electroluminescence
• Solar textiles
• Electrical power
- Fibre batteries
- 'Power Fibres'
- Filmic batteries
- Ultracapacitors as alternatives to batteries
- Phase change materials
• Phase change materials
- Metallic fibre conductors
- Carbon fibre conductors
- Inherently conducting polymer fibres
- Filled conducting fibres
- Coated conducting fibres and fabrics
- Bicomponent conducting fibres
- Comparison of the conductivities
- Methods of incorporating conducting yarns into fabrics
- Printed circuits on fabrics
- Printed electronics
• Shape memory materials
- Shape memory alloys
- Shape memory polymers
• Chromism
- Chromic materials
- Photochromic materials
- Thermochromic materials
- Electrochromism
• Piezoelectric materials
• Auxetic (negative poisson ratio) materials
• Electrorestrictive and magnetorestrictive materials
• Magneto-rheological fluids
• Electro-rheological fluids
Projects
• General projects
- FIRB (a project funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research)
- Clevertex
- WearIT@work
• Healthcare projects
- WEALTHY
- MyHeart
- Biotex
- Protex
- DRIFTS
- Drug Delivery Systems
• Detection projects
- Biohazards
- Chemical hazards
• Military projects: SMART SOLDIER
- The Wearable Motherboard
• Other US military projects
- Bio-materials
- Nastic materials
• Device projects
- Minute solar batteries
- Textile Transistor (Project Arianne) (Wearable Computing Lab ETH Zurich)
- Textile antennas EU project Wearable Computing Lab ETH Zurich
- Intelligent Stimuli-Sensitive Fibers and Fabrics
- MEMS fibres
- Carbon nanotube fibres
- Distributed sensors and actuators via electronic textiles
- Micromachine Based Fabric
Formation Systems (NCSU College of Textiles, George L. Hodge)
- Conductive Textiles Project (Wearable Computing Lab ETH Zurich)
• Other projects
- Permanent antibacterial properties
Applications
• Conductive yarns and connectors
• Conductive polymers
• Electromagnetic interference shielding
• Heated fabrics and garments
• Wearable electronics
• Healthcare/telemedicine/sports
• Home furnishings
• Visual displays and illumination
• Power supply
• Solar textiles and garments
• Comfort and enhanced performance clothing
• Antennas
• Miscellaneous
Future developments
• PCMs
• Protective clothing
• Shape memory materials
• Solar textiles
• Electronic textiles
• Medical and monitoring applications
• Contact information