1. Smart and Technical Textiles
The future of fibres & fabrics
This subject is usually included in your GCSE exam:
Last year there was a question about micro-encapsulation!
A recent exam question showed a baseball cap and asked for a name of a smart fabric and an explanation of how it would be used to enhance the product.

2. Learning Objectives To explain the terms:
Smart Textiles
Technical Textiles
Interactive Textiles.
To be able to give examples of the above.
To create a model of a textile product that uses this technology
Explain that we will be learning about these different products & passing round some examples of them. Hoping this will only take about 20 mins, as I would then like students to have a go at developing a modern garment or accessory that uses this modern technology – could be something we’ve discussed or something that’s not been invented yet.

3. Technical Textiles
Technical textiles are fibres & fabrics which have been developed for their performance, and functional properties.
They are often made of microfibres (synthetic fibres up to 60 times finer than human hair)
Technical Textiles are all around us.
Uses
Building Industry
Agricultural Industry
Medical Industry
Transport Industry
Armed Forces
Police
Performance Sportswear
Technical Textiles have been developed for their performance & functional ( what something does) properties. Their aesthetic appearance (what they look like) is less important.
They are often made of microfibres (remember we mentioned them when we looked at synthetic fibres) & can be up to 60 times finer than human hair.
(Students complete the definition of Technical Textiles on their worksheets – they only need the part that’s in blue).
Uses include:
Building Industry – Breathable waterproof membranes used between foundations & above ground levels in buildings (ask if anyone has had a conservatory or extension built) / Tyvek a bonded fabric used under roof tiles which is also breathable / the large bonded fabric sheets over scaffolding which stop dust & debris falling out onto the street below (bonded because cheap).
Transport Industry – Lots of uses in aeronautic (planes) & automobile (cars) industries particularly in hoses, filters & inner tubes.
Agricultural Industry - Such as the covers that are put over sapling plants to protect them from frosts (you may have seen them in fields) which are breathable & will biodegrade (rot) as the plants grow, & can be micro-encapsulated with plant nutrients.
The others – we’ll have a look at in a bit more detail.

4. Here are just a few examples:
Super absorbent medical textiles used in wipes, wound dressings & nappies.
Super stretchy polyester yarns knitted in tubes & used in artery replacement
Technical Textiles have many medical uses:
Wound Dressings
Fibres have been developed for using in wound dressings & nappies that are super absorbent & super stretchy, but still breathable. This allows the patient or baby to remain comfortable but clean & protected.
Microfibres for Artery Replacement
Extremely tiny knitted microfibres have been used in artery replacement for heart problems. Because they are absorbent, they can be soaked in the patient’s own blood before an operation, which helps prevent the body from rejecting them.
Silver Technology
It has been discovered that Silver is anti-microbial (eliminates fungus & bacteria). X-Static® is a brand name of one medical textile incorporating silver in its production. Trials have shown that it can kill 99.9% of bacteria including MRSA, & future uses may include hospital curtains, bedding & patients’ gowns. This technology is filtering on to the high street & companies such as M&S are developing socks & underwear with minute amounts of silver which help prevent the clothing from becoming smelly. You’ve probably seen silver in plasters too (show example of silver plasters).
X-Static® is the name of new yarn which uses silver in its production. It can kill bacteria & fungi & can be used in wound dressings & underwear.

5. Technical Fabrics used by the Armed Services and Police
Kevlar – used in body armour / bullet proof vests.
High Visibility jackets use strips of 3M retro-reflective tape. This works by concentrating the light source & reflecting it back.
The armed forces & the police make use lots of different modern technical fabric developments.
Kevlar
This is extremely strong but lightweight & is used for body armour. What was armour made from in the past? (metal). What were the problems with metal (very heavy / ricochet). Kevlar is much lighter weight & easier to move in. Unlike metal, it doesn’t deflect a bullet but absorbs the impact. A bullet may knock you off your feet & you may be left with a nasty bruise, but kevlar will save your life, & will prevent bullets ricocheting off you & killing innocent by-standers.
Reflective Trims
You’ll have all seen hi-visibility jackets on road-workers, the police; in strips on emergency vehicles; & also for badges on school coats & cycling clothes. These trims have a layer of tiny beads or prisms of glass. They are aligned so that they reflect light back in straight waves rather than scattering it. This allows the fabric to be easily seen in car headlights, etc.

6. Lots of Technical Fabrics in Sportswear
Nomex - fire retardant used in Formula 1 (& also oven gloves)
Nomex is used in the full body suits & balaclavas worn under racing drivers’ clothing. You may have seen them at the end of a race when they take off crash hats & they have a fine white balaclava on underneath. It is also widely used in the protective uniforms of fire-fighters.
Commercially, its used in oven gloves to protect hands from hot ovens & pans.
Gore-Tex is normally used as part of a laminated fabric: that is a fabric made of several very fine layers bonded together to form 1 material. In the picture there is as a layer of Gore-Tex between different fabrics. In outerwear, it could allow a coat to have warm soft underneath layer for warmth next to the skin, a Gore-Tex protective layer & an outer fashionable appearance. (Students should remember this from a few lessons ago when we looked at non-wovenc fabrics).
Gore-Tex can also be used with tough woven fabrics such as in the making of tents.
Coolmax® is the brand name of a laminated breathable fabric developed by a company called Du Pont for use in performance sportswear. The size of the molecules in the underneath section are large enough for perspiration to be absorbed into the fabric, which then transports the moisture away from the body. This is known as wicking (good wicking properties). It is now used in quality sportswear, in mattress covers & in underwear.
Gore-Tex – water repellent and windproof: used in cycle jackets, outdoor wear
Coolmax® wicks moisture to the surface of the fabric, to keep you dry & comfortable.

7. These fabrics have been designed to mimic nature
Biomimetics
These fabrics have been designed to mimic nature
Speedo’s Fastskin® swimsuit was developed using V-shaped fibres which mimic the ridges found on the skin of a shark
Bio-Mimetics is the name given to fabrics which mimic features that occur in nature.
Fastskin
When Speedo were looking at ways a bulky shape could move through water quickly, they researched sharks. Under the microscope, they could see that sharks’ skin had V-shaped molecules which helped to streamline the movement of water around their bodies. They developed fibres with a similar V-shape which they used in swimwear for the British Olympic team in Rebecca Adlington won several Gold Medals at those Olympics. She knew that she was at the peak of her physical fitness & stood a good chance of winning some medals. She didn’t want people to say that she only achieved success because of Fastskin swimwear, so she refused to wear one. She still won gold, but many other swimmers improved time too due to this innovative fabric.
Stomatex
This fabric mimics transpiration in plants (the controlled movement of water through the stem & out through the leaves). It is made of tiny domed chambers with pores that trap air & moisture when wearer is still, which keeps them warm; but pumps out moisture & heat when the wearer is active which helps cool them down.
Stomatex® is a lightweight, strong & flexible material that mimics transpiration in plants.

8. Smart Textiles
Smart textiles can sense, react & adapt to the conditions around them.
For example, they can react to:
Hot or cold temperature
Light
Pressure
Moisture
Time
Uses
Novelty clothing
Protective clothing
Safety equipment
Medical textiles
Military uses
Anti-allergen products
Baby products
Smart materials respond to external stimuli (the conditions around them). They are able to sense certain conditions, react to them & adapt when those conditions change.
Thermochromic Textiles - React to temperature & may change colour in hot or cold temperatures.
Photochromic Textiles - React to UV light
Solvation Chromism
Is the name given to textiles which respond to moisture. They have mainly been developed for disposable non-woven textiles, where a fabric changes colour when wet. This is being developed for medical dressings & nappies which can change colour to indicate when they need to be changed.
Pressure
Uses for textiles which react to pressure include horse-riding helmets, upholstery & bedding.
Time
Fabrics can be developed that break down over a given amount of time. This process is used in medicines such as multi-coloured cold capsules. The different colours indicate the speed the coating breaks down in the gut & allows a steady dose of the medicine into the bloodstream over a period of time between doses. Future uses include fibres holding bones or organs together as a temporary repair while the body heals itself after an accident or operation,
Some smart materials meet a real need & have been developed for specific functions. Others are more of a novelty design feature.

9. Pressure response Fabric
D3o is a new innovation
It is a soft malleable material most of the time, but when it comes into contact with force, it hardens on impact
D3o
A play-doh like material that is soft & bendy. However, when it comes into contact with force, it hardens on impact. It is being used in all types of protective textiles from the points of ballet shoes, to horse-riding helmets, ski hats & suits & motorbike leathers.
This clip from ‘The Gadget Show’ demonstrates what happens when a beanie hat containing D3o is hit with a hammer, compared to a standard beanie hat.
(if clip doesn’t work put inribcap on the gadget show in the You Tube search panel).
Memory Foam
You will all be familiar with mattresses & pillows containing Memory Foam. It is sensitive to pressure & moulds to the shape of your body. For people suffering with back problems, it helps to align the spine (keep it in a straight line) which is much better that it curving on older saggy mattresses. Once the pressure is removed, it returns to its original shape without leaving the dip you associate with normal mattresses.
It was originally developed by NASA to help astronauts deal with G-Force when blasting-off into space
Memory Foam is temperature & pressure sensitive foam that moulds to the shape of the body & returns to normal when pressure is removed.

10. Micro-encapsulation
Chemicals / Fragrances are captured in microscopic polymer bubbles which are added to natural or microfibres.
Micro encapsulation has been developed in textiles, to allow fibres & fabrics to be impregnated with microscopic bubbles of perfumes, anti-bacterial properties, anti-allergens, mosquito repellents & carbon digesters to absorb unpleasant fumes.
The diagram shown shows a molecule bursting open to release its chemical contents.
Uses for this include anti allergic covers for pillows, bed-linen for children impregnated with calming lavender to help them sleep, tights which have active ingredients that claim to combat cellulite, & holiday clothing impregnated with mosquito repellent.
It is this technology that is used in perfume samples in magazines & scratch & sniff dyes & printing inks in books & children’s clothing.
Hand round the scratch & sniff fragranced embroidery silks & swatches / lavender pot on the hot-water bottle.
When the fabric is rubbed or comes into contact with the skin, the bubbles slowly burst to release their content

11. Thermochromic Colour
Thermochromic textiles change colour with heat. They are engineered to change colour at a particular temperature.
Thermochromic textiles react to changes in temperature usually by changing colour. There are lots of novelty uses including fabric printing inks & dyes which can be applied to textiles & change colour as the body warms, or the product is touched.
More functional applications include baby clothing that changes colour if the baby becomes hotter than the advised optimum temperature. This may help to alleviate sudden infant death syndrome (cot death). The same procedure can be used in baby bath toys & feeding spoons which check that bath water or food is of a safe temperature.
Hand round samples of thermochromic dyes & demonstrate the on the hot water bottle candles or Rudolph’s nose on the Christmas stocking.
Liquid crystal fabric changes colour all the way through the spectrum with warmth. It is used in fabric strip thermometers.
Very recently, an Italian manufacturer has invented fibres that react to heat which become tighter when hot. This allows more air to pass through the gaps between the fibres in woven or knitted fabric. When they cool, the fibres expand, reducing the gaps & the air flow. This helps the wearer acclimatise to the weather conditions.
There are serious medical uses as well as novelty ones, e.g. liquid crystal fabric strip thermometers, & baby sleep-suits to monitor temperature.

12. Photo chromic dyes
Photo chromic dyes react to UV light & change colour. They can be useful for monitoring the amount of time children spend in the sun, to prevent sun-burn.
Photochromic products react to UV light by changing colour. You or your parents may have photochromatic lenses in their glasses, so that they can wear them outside as sun-glasses too (they darken in sun-light & go back to normal colour when you go indoors).
Products include dyes for novelty effects, beads & trims on textiles. However, there are more functional uses such as children’s Summer clothes or beachwear that change colour when the child has been out in the sun for too long.
New developments are taking place in military uniform, which could reduce the need for camouflage nets or change of uniform as soldiers move from one terrain to another (e.g. soldiers in places like Afghanistan have desert combats in beige / sand shades instead of the normal green / brown colour. It would be useful if the combats changed colour as you moved into bright light conditions or darker shady conditions, a bit like a chameleon’s skin, the skin of a squid & the scales of some fish do.

13. Phosphorescent Pigments
These dyes are used in glow-in-the dark products.
Phosphorescent dyes were originally developed to use on clock hands & numbers. Nowadays they are often used in prints on novelty clothing such as children’s nightwear, clothes for clubbing or Halloween costumes.
Glow it the dark threads are available to embroider or stitch textiles with.
Pass round the sample of the stitching in the Christmas stocking / star on the tree of the hot-water bottle cover
Some baby’s dummies have this treatment, which is useful for finding them in the dark when a baby starts crying in the night but isn’t fully awake.
Show sample

14. Interactive or Electronic Textiles
An interactive fabric incorporates electronics that are activated by a power source. They are still Smart fabrics, they just require a power source.
Electronic textiles are becoming more common & are the fastest growing part of the textiles industry. They meet 2 consumer needs:
Fashion
The desire for mobile communication and entertainment devices.
They work by the fabric being electrically conductive (while still being soft & comfortable). This can be achieved by adding metal fibres to the fabric, using conductive sewing threads, conductive printing inks or metallic coatings on the fabric surface in order to create a circuit. Soft switches have been developed by Philips & these products often make use of solar energy as a power source.
Products include the i-pod blazer introduced by Marks & Spencer but hastily withdrawn after complaints from parents & teachers! Ski wear can have soft switches & built in i-pods & phones, so you can change the volume of your music or answer a call by pressing a button on your sleeve rather than removing your gloves & retrieving your phone from your pocket.
Satellite navigation & tagging can be built into clothing allowing mountaineers, pot-holers & skiers to be easily found in case of an accident.
New developments also include the ‘Life Shirt’ which monitors blood pressure, & a tracksuit that can monitor your performance.

15. Some more Electronic Fabrics
Graphic Equilizer T-shirt playing to Lady GaGa
Electronic fashion on the catwalk – by Diana Eng
The climate dress
Examples of electronic textiles from You-Tube
DON’T SHOW LAST BIT OF LAST CLIP – CONTAINS NUDITY
Shape changing couture