Smart fabrics are textiles that can sense and react to environmental stimuli. They are classified as passive fabrics that only sense stimuli, active fabrics that contain sensors and actuators controlled by a central unit, and ultra fabrics that can sense, react, and adapt. Various smart materials are used including thermoregulating, shape memory, chromic, luminescent, conductive materials and membranes. These materials allow fabrics to regulate temperature, change shape or color in response to stimuli, conduct electricity, and become breathable or water resistant. Smart fabrics have applications in military garments for sensing wounds and in medical garments for monitoring health.

1. Smart Fabrics & Interactive Clothing By Akhil K 1

2. Definition Smart textiles are defined as textiles that can sense and react to environmental conditions or stimuli from mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical or magnetic sources. 2

3. Classifications Passive Smart Fabrics Sense environmental conditions or stimulus Active Smart Fabrics Actuators and sensors Central control unit present Ultra Smart Fabrics Sense, react and adapt themselves to envt. Cognition, reasoning and activating capacities 3

4. Smart materials used Thermo regulating material Shape memory materials Chromic materials Luminescent materials Conductive material Membranes Voltaic materials 4

6. Absorbs heat and stores it

7. Change state to retain heat

8. Paraffin enclosed into small plastic spheres with diameters of only a few micrometers to prevent dissolution

9. Provide a thermal balance between the heat generated by the body while engaging in a sport and the heat released into the environment5

10. Shape memory material Materials stable at two or more temperature states Different temperature states, they have the potential to assume different shapes Electro active polymers which can change shape in response to electrical stimuli Produce substantial change in size or shape and force generation for actuation mechanisms 6

11. Chromic Materials Change their colour reversibly according to external environmental conditions Photochromic: external stimulus is light. Thermochromic: external stimulus is heat. Electrochromic: external stimulus is electricity. Piezorochromic: external stimulus is pressure. Solvatechromic: external stimulus is liquid or gas. 7

12. Luminescent Materials Emits lights according to external environmental conditions Photoluminescence: external stimulus is light Electroluminescence: external stimulus is electricity Chemioluminescence: external stimulus is a chemical reaction Triboluminescence: external stimulus is friction 8

13. Conductive materials Two types of materials, the metals and the polymers High wicking finishes (ink) with a high metallic content that still retains the comfort Direct use of conductive yarns Applications are electromagnetic interface (EMI) shielding and conducting Thermal conduction allows distribution of heat throughout the entire garment or suit 9

14. Membranes Membranes are constituted of polymers and their structure could be made of one or more layers Used in sportswear for the manufacture of breathable and impermeable clothes More breathability and extreme water repellence Lotus effectprovides repellence of the aqueous products and also of the oleic product – useful for self cleaning garments 10

15. Voltaic materials Storage of energy for electronic parts Use of solar cells Research underway to produce and store electricity from body movements and wrist rotation 11

16. Electronic textiles Textiles that sensor the body for military or medical uses Smart shirt by the Professor Sundaresan Jayaraman The sensory Baby Vest The life shirt by Vivometrics Interactive Fabrics Comfort & Security The wearable computer 12

17. Military textiles Smart shirt by the Professor Sundaresan Jayaraman Uses optical fibres to detect bullet wounds Medical sensing devices that are attached to the body plug into the computerised shirt Helps to determine who needs immediate attention within the first hour of combat Types of sensors used can be varied depending on the wearer's needs 13

18. Medical textiles The sensory Baby Vest To detect cardiac, pulmonary or other defects in newborn child The life shirt by Vivometrics LifeShirt System gathers data during the subject's daily routine, providing pharmaceutical and academic researchers with a continuous "movie" of the subject's health in real-life situations (work, school, exercise, sleep), rather than the "snapshot" generated during a typical clinic visit 14

19. Interactive Fabrics Keyboard made in a single layer of fabric using capacitive sensing Some famous products are the KENPO jacket that possesses an integrated MP3 lectors and the IPods jeans by Levis A Swedish R&D team has developed a glove that incorporates a phone 15

20. Comfort and security Tightens and loosens the garments automatically according to needs Security tools developed using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags RFID tags are miniscule microchips - half the size of a grain of sand Listen for a radio query and respond by transmitting their unique ID code Automating the garment handling process, including: check-in, sorting, and checkout integration of GPS in garments for the detection of user position in case of disappearance or kidnapping 16

21. Wearable computers Objective is the integration of a complete computer screen, CPU and keyboard in a wearable garment Universities and research organisations are developing a wearable computer system that is a better powered computer system worn on the user's body (on a belt, backpack or vest) 17

22. Advantages Light weight Durable Washable Integratable with human body Pierce resistant Water resistant yet breathable Tracking/communication systems Monitoring systems Usable in security authentication 18

23. Drawbacks Needs to be charged Bulky Expensive Yet to be commercially recognized 19

24. Conclusion Smart textiles were presented as imaginary products and as a non competitive market Nowadays SFIT are an implanted customer interest and are presented as the future of the textile industry A lot of scientist are developing new solutions, ideas and concrete products Some approximations announce a market of 1 billion dollars by 2010 which certainly explains the current passion for these news topics 20

25. Reference http://health.howstuffworks.com/bionic-arm.htm http://www.smartextiles.co.uk/_wearcomp.htm http://www.luminex.it/ http://www.eleksen.com/ http://science.howstuffworks.com/ffw.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoskeletons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interface#Human_BCI_research http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4411591.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/165596.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5140090.stm 21

26. Questions & Comments 22