Smart textiles manufacture

Advances in polymer and fibre science and in the manufacturing technologies of fibres, yarns and fabrics have been the driving force behind the development of smart textiles and innovative products that fulfil customer expectations. In contrast with the situation that existed 20years ago, these products now find applications primarily in sectors outside the textile field. Therefore, fibre, yam and clothing producers are in constant pursuit of developing new materials in order to meet the demands for both traditional and technical textiles to be used for applications outside the textile industry. 

Fabien, S. The manufacture of microencapsulated thermal energy storage compounds suitable for smart textile. Univ Lille Nord de France, Ensait, France, September 15, 2011. doi 10.5772/17221. 

The world textile industry is moving rrq)idly toward the manufacture of high-added value textile structures and products such as medical textiles, protective textiles and smart textiles. Textile materials used in medical devices are an important and growing part of the textile industry. Textiles present an excellent interface between the human body and medical treatment, and thus their continued development is an important part of medical diagnosis and therapy. 

The combination of embroidery technology and intelligent textiles was, until very recently, a contradiction - now they are one and the same. The examples of unconventional uses of embroidery, as presented in this chapter, indicate the potential still to be exploited. However, we are at the very beginning of exploring this field, and extensive research and development work will be required for the eventual manufacture of commercial products. Tailor-made and/or three-dimensional textiles capable of withstanding forces will be with us and clothe us - the smart textiles of the new millennium. 

The state of the art in developing textile-based sensors extends from sensor fibres to over-coated yams and textiles, but without using a methodical approach. Therefore, a standardized tool that allows the development of textile-based sensors for different application fields has been created for textile manufacturers. It is called the smart 7-step tool, and it is described in Section 4.3. 

The smart 7-step tool consists of seven steps to develop a textile-based sensor for a special application area and product with a certain functionality. It concludes a classified catalogue for textile-based sensors, which allows the textile manufacturers to use already existing textile-based sensors (see Figure 4.5). 

For the production of smart textiles, a consistently and closely interlocked value chain must be built up. This value chain allows one to adjust and hand over process parameter flexibly. Manufacturing and joining technology should be organized as a direct or joined process in order to achieve a reasonable and cost-efficient solution. Tool handling, cutting, feeding and removal of the textile for automatic assembly must be solved. 

Simultaneously, this data acquisition enables networking strategies for former single-process steps and a more flexible organization of supplier structures. Smart textiles could be supplied with retrievable product data by manufacturers at any point in the manufacturing process. 

The objective of smart textile is to absorb a series of active components essentially without changing its characteristics of flexibility and comfort. In order to make a smart textile, firstly, conventional components such as sensors, devices and wires are being reshaped in order to fit in the textile, ultimately the research activities trend to manufacture active elements made of fibers, yams and fabrics stmctuies. Smart textiles are ideal vehicle for carrying active elements that permanently monitor oiu body and the environment, providing adequate reaction should something happen [35],... 

Sadamichi, Y., Kimura, Y., Widiyanto, A., Kato, S., Maruyatna, N., Nishimura, A., 2003. LCA evaluation of reuse/recycle impact for environmental conscious industrial products. In Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing, 2003. EcoDesign 03. 2003 3rd International Symposium, 8—11 December 2003, pp. 339—343. Tokyo, Japan. SMART, December 15, 2004. Sustainable Textile Standard 2.0 -Promoting Sustainable Textile Achievement, the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability, Einal Approved Consensus Ballot Version. 

The prototype snowmobile suit developed within this project is a smart garment. Cross-scientifically, electronic and textile innovations were combined, and the objectives were achieved. The suit works as planned. It is not likely that the prototype costing 1 million dollars to create will be commercially exploited in its exact shape and form. However, much was learned. Several innovations, including the user interface, were patented and will be commercially applied in the future. The garment manufacturer Reima-Tutta Oy launched snowboard clothing with electronic devices in the autumn of 2000. 

Beeby, S., Cork, C., Dias, T., Grabham, N., Torah, R., Tudor, J., Yang K., 2014. Advanced manufacturing of Smart and Intelligent Textiles (SMIT). Ernal technical report to Dstl, United Kingdom, 14 May 2014. 

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