Smart polymers for textile applications

Key words thermal-responsive polymer, moisture-responsive polymer, thermal-responsive hydrogel, pH-responsive hydrogel, smart textiles. 

Smart materials can sense the environment and/or their own state, make a judgment and then respond by changing their functions according to a predetermined purpose. Such smart functions are distinct from smart systems because they do not rely on the comphcated sense-response structure of a feedback system. Instead, smart materials are intrinsically sensitive to changes in their environment such as temperature, optical wavelength, absorbed gas molecules or pH values. 

PCMs have the abihty to absorb and emit heat energy without changing temperature themselves. These waxes include eicosane, octadecane, non-adecane, heptadecane and hexadecane, which all have different freezing and melting points and, when combined in a microcapsule, will store heat energy and emit heat energy and maintain their temperature range of 30 34°C, which is comfortable for the body. 

Polymers which change their visible optical properties in response to external stimuli have aroused the growing interest of researchers. According to the external stimulus, these polymers are classified as  

Most smart polymers can be triggered in a variety of ways such as the response of SMPs to thermal, chemical, magnetic and water stimuli. Another example is the way a hydrogel can respond to pH, heat, light, magnetic fields, etc. These diverse stimuli make it possible to use smart polymers in different applications. Smart polymers used in textiles usually appear in various forms such as film, fibre, solution or gel to meet different processing requirements in textiles. 

---

The fourth part, embracing the last three chapters, is focused on bioapplications. Chapter 15 outlines various bioprocesses for smart textiles and clothing, and Chapter 16 concentrates on tailor-made intelligent polymers for biomedical applications. Chapter 17 describes the applications of scaffolds in tissue engineering, where various textile structures are used for cells to grow. 

Different types of smart polymers have significant effects on the applications used in textile technology. There are a variety of smart polymers that can be used with specific processing techniques, such as finishing, spinning, weaving or laminating. It is important to use the correct type of smart polymer for... 

Hu, J., Meng, H., Li, G., Ibekwe, S.I., 2012. A review of sthnuU-responsive polymers for smart textile applications. Smart Mater. Struct. 21, 053001. 

Electrically conductive or electroactive fibers are commonly used in protective cloth, filters, and smart and interactive textiles, which could be used in electrical, medical, sports, energy, and military applications. Conductive fibers, especially for commonly used synthetic fiber, can be prepared in core—sheath bicomponent fiber, adding conductive additives in the core part. Functional additives include carbon black, multi-waUed carbon nanotubes, grapheme, ZnO, silver, and conductive polymers [52]. Properties of some conductive libers are listed in Table 2.38. 

Bashir, T., 2013. Conjugated Polymer-Based Conductive Fibers for Smart Textile Applications. University of Boras, Sweden. 

In smart polymer applications in textiles, PCMs and colour change polymers mostly take the form of microcapsules. A microcapsule is an intermediate state which is added to solutions, fibres, films and nonwovens to incorporated a smart function into the textile. These materials may be incorpated into textiles by printing, coating and dyeing. For printing and coating, the materials are microencapsulated first and then coated or printed onto the fabric surface by common methods such as the pad-dry-cure process. 

---