THE COOLEST TECH IN CLOTHING
FABRICS THAT
CHANGE COLOUR
A few weeks ago, scientists at the fibre-optics and
fibredevice labs of the University of Central Florida (UCF) unveiled a new
textile technology called ChroMorphous.
This fabric comprises fibres that contain a conductive microwire inside each
strand. And when a small current is passed through these wires, the fibre warms
up slightly and activates its colour-changing pigment.
The current prototypes at UCF—backpacks, tote bags
and shoes (a dress is currently being worked upon)—are controlled via a
smartphone app and powered by a rechargeable lithium ion battery, which is
about the size of a cell-phone charger.
As of now, ChroMorphous, which has the feel and
texture of denim, can switch between four different colours. It is safe to wear
and can also be mass produced.
While the material is not yet available commercially,
the boffins behind this tech say you can expect to see widespread use of
ChroMorphous wherever you already find fabric: For accessories and clothing,
curtains and automobile upholstery. The possibilities are limitless. Imagine
wearing a shirt or a dress to work, and then changing its colour via your
cellphone before you head for a night out with friends. Or, a purse or backpack
that always compliments the colour of your outfit, or even curtains that change
hues to suit your mood.
Even Google has made an entry into the smart fabric
space. The tech giant collaborated with Levi’s to create the Commuter X Jacquard jacket, where
the fabric on its left sleeve is touch sensitive just like the screen on your
smartphone.
To achieve this, the collaborators integrated
capacitive threads with a copper core into the fabric.
Digital connectivity to its app on a smartphone is
provided via a Bluetooth-enabled snap tag attached to a button on the jacket’s
cuff. Wearers can then use the app to set up to three customisable gestures:
swipe in, swipe out and double tap, while the fourth gesture: holding your hand
on the fabric is hard-coded to just shut down your phone.
The fully-washable jacket is built for bikers so they
can just touch their sleeves to interact with their phone. It even has a
special inside pocket on the left breast for a handset.
Depending on how you set up the gestures, you can use
the sleeve to swipe through your music, answer or refuse calls to your
Bluetooth headset, and even receive calls only from selected contacts.
Google and Levi’s call this tech the ‘Jacquard’ system, after the Jacquard
Loom – a weaving machine from the 1800s that was one of the earliest
inspirations for a computing system that used punched cards as input. The tech
can tell when you’re wearing the jacket to automatically set your phone to a
biking mode, where it reads text messages and navigation directions to your
paired/connected earphones.
DATA-STORING
FABRIC
Researchers at the University of Washington have
developed a fabric that can store passcodes and open the door to your apartment
or office without needing any on-board electronics or sensors.
Almost every other fabric that can store data uses a
special kind of conductive thread along with other electronics to light up or
communicate. But the UW researchers realised that “off-the-shelf conductive
threads” also have magnetic properties that can be manipulated to store digital
data. Since the technology is completely electronic-free, the “smart fabric”
can be ironed, washed and dried.
The research was described in a paper presented late
last year at the Association for Computing Machinery’s User Interface
Software and Technology Symposium (UIST 2017).
“You can think of the fabric as a hard disk,” said
senior author Shyam Gollakota, associate professor in the Paul G Allen School
of Computer Science & Engineering. “You’re actually doing this data storage
on the clothes you’re wearing (sic).”
This information can be read by a magnetometer, an
inexpensive instrument that measures the direction and strength of magnetic
fields and is embedded in most smartphones. “We are using something that
already exists on a smartphone and uses almost no power, so the cost of reading
this type of data is negligible,” Gollakota added.
The UW researchers created fashion accessories like a
tie, belt, necklace and wristband and decoded the data by swiping a smartphone
across them.
They used a conventional sewing machine to embroider
fabric with off-the-shelf conductive thread, whose magnetic poles start out in
a random order. By rubbing a magnet against the fabric, the researchers were
able to physically align the poles in either a positive or negative direction,
which can correspond to the 1s and 0s in digital data.
Like hotel card keys, the strength of the magnetic
signal weakens by about 30% over the course of a week, though the fabric can be
re-magnetised and re-programmed multiple times.
Future work is focused on developing textiles that
generate stronger magnetic fields and are capable of storing a higher density
of data.
Material scientists are constantly working to create
a waterproof fabric that also feel natural to wear, and with Gore-Tex they have achieved this
goal.
Gore, the US-based company behind this membrane
material started off as an electronics products company in 1958, but by 1969,
they had already diversified into other areas including medical, fabric,
aerospace, automotive and music. And this was when Gore-Tex was born.
The material has over nine billion pores per square
inch: The pores are 700 times larger than a water vapour molecule which means
perspiration passes right through, and they are 20,000 times smaller than a
water droplet, making the material waterproof.
Now, The North Face, a brand known for its highend
adventure gear, has used Gore-Tex to create their Apex Flex GTX jacket. The wearable looks like any other
polyester knit garment, but is laminated with Gore-Tex for water protection,
and is more comfortable to wear than any windcheater you might have ever owned.
Who said you can’t be stylish and dry in the monsoons, eh?
SUPER TOUGH
AND GLOWING
You might not have heard of Vollebak, but this
US-based apparel company—founded by twin brothers and adventure athletes Nick
and Steve Tidball—use science and technology to create durable clothing. And
these are not even prototypes, but ready products that are shipped all over the
world.
Their 100
Year Hoodie feels as soft as a cotton sweat shirt, but is built
from 100% Kevlar fibre, the same material that’s used to make bulletproof
vests. The only other materials you’ll find in the hoodie are the rubberised
zip and toughened draw cords.
Now creating the material itself is quite a feat: It
begins as a liquid pool of Kevlar (polypara-phenylene terephthalamide), which
is then forced through giant metal sieves at volcanic temperatures, then spun,
wound, treated and straightened to create the fabric. This is finally cut by
laser and assembled by hand to make the 100 Year Hoodie. In tests, the garment
was dragged at high speeds on roads, over rocks, through rivers, and was hit
with sparks from an angle grinder and dried with a blow torch. The material can
survive temperatures ranging from 300°C to -200°C so what Vollebak have created
is a virtually indestructible hoodie that will last a lifetime.
Then there’s the Condition Black Ceramic T-shirt that is embedded with over
one lakh ceramic particles that are bound together in a honeycomb formation.
The particles can’t be scratched off or washed out, and since ceramic is second
only to diamond in hardness, the t-shirt is abrasion resistant, allowing
wearers to take on the toughest adventure terrains without having to worry
about tearing their clothes or scratching their skin.
And finally, Vollebak has their Solar Charged Jackets. Its fabrication
comprises an ultra-thin membrane with phosphorescence engineered into it, and
this is housed inside a translucent mesh fabric. The result is a breatheable
garment that is designed to keep the rain out, and also let sweat escape.
The membrane stores any light it is exposed to and
re-emits it slowly over time. You can even use your phone’s flashlight to
“write” over the surface of the fabric like you were using a pen, and it starts
glowing instantly.
The Jacket is “charged” by sunlight, and when fully
juiced, it glows green in the dark for up to 12 hours, making it great for
overnight treks and night-time jogs.
TOI 9JUN18
No comments:
Post a Comment