3D Printed Active Fabric

Scientists have developed an innovative wearable fabric that is flexible but can stiffen on demand. Developed through a combination of geometric design, 3D printing, and robotic control, the new technology, RoboFabric, can quickly be made into medical devices or soft robotics. Read on to learn more about it.

‘Smart Glove’ Boosts Hand Mobility

A new washable wireless smart textile technology has potential uses in virtual reality and American Sign Language. The glove incorporates a sophisticated network of highly sensitive sensor yarns and pressure sensors.

Conductive, Cotton-Based Fiber for Smart Textiles

A single strand of fiber has the flexibility of cotton and the electric conductivity of a polymer, called polyaniline. The newly developed material showed good potential for wearable e-textiles. Researchers tested the fibers with a system that powered an LED light and another that sensed ammonia gas.

Smart Wearable Fabrics Use Haptic Input

A wearable, textile-based device developed by Rice University engineers could help declutter, enhance — and, in the case of impairments — compensate for deficiencies in visual and auditory inputs by tapping the sense of touch.

Programmable Smart Fabric Responds to Temperature and Electricity

A new smart material developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli.

Analyzing Sweat via Microelectronic Fibers for Noninvasive Health Monitoring

The fiber could lead to fiber-based smart clothes that provide greater versatility in functions, larger sensing areas, and greater comfort.

Waterproof Fabric Converts Motion into Electricity

Scientists have developed a stretchable and waterproof fabric that turns energy generated from body movements into electrical energy. A crucial component in the fabric is a polymer that, when...

Sustainable Silk Material Ideal for Wearable and Implantable Applications

The material is optically transparent and easily manipulated.

Smart Fabric Stiffens on Demand

A new type of chain mail fabric is flexible like cloth but can stiffen on demand.

Liquid Metal Coating Creates Antimicrobial Fabric

A team used liquid gallium to test an antiviral and antimicrobial on a range of fabrics, including facemasks.

Woven Nanotube Fibers Turn Heat into Power

Flexible thermoelectric generators could be a useful way to make carbon "green."

Programmable Fibers Expand Possibilties for Fabrics

The fabric-fiber has digital capabilities to collect, store, and analyze data using a neural network.

Inkjet Printing Shows Promise for Making E-Textiles

Researchers have demonstrated that they can print layers of electrically conductive ink on polyester fabric.

Future Washable Smart Clothes Powered by Wi-Fi Will Monitor Health

A flexible, silk-based coil is sewn on the textile.

Conductive Cellulose Thread Shows Promise for Healthcare Applications

The thermoelectric textile produces a small amount of electricity when heated on one side.

Study Proposes Low-Cost, High-Efficiency Mask Design

Modifications to existing N95 masks improve their reusability.

Textile Sensor Patch Could Detect Pressure Points for Amputees

A textile sensor can detect pressure points on the socket of a prosthetic limb.

Easier Printing of Circuitry on Wearable Fabrics

The breakthrough involves inkjet printing and materials with a crystal structure discovered nearly two centuries ago.

Sensing Eye Mask Captures Pulse, Sleep Signals

A new, lightweight eye mask can unobtrusively capture pulse, eye movement, and sleep signals, for example, when worn in an everyday environment.

Smart Fabrics Monitor Body by Changing Color

Researchers have developed biomaterial-based inks that respond to and quantify chemicals released from the body.

Smart Textiles Powered by Soft Transmission Lines

The fibers measure subtle and complex fabric deformations.

Leading Women in Engineering & Science: Yolita Wildman Nugent, Director, Advanced Soft Systems Integration, Flex

As the founder of the Soft Systems program at Flex, Yolita brings electronics, smart textiles and computation together to create new products, digital experiences and functionalities through fibers and textiles.

New Silk Materials Can Wrinkle into Detailed Patterns, Then Unwrinkle to Be “Reprinted”

Researchers at Tufts University School of Engineering have developed silk materials that can wrinkle into highly detailed patterns — including words,...

Silver Nanowires Promise More Comfortable Smart Textiles

Researchers have developed a simple, scalable, and low-cost capillary-driven self-assembly method to prepare flexible and stretchable conductive fibers that have applications in wearable...

Elastic Fiber Revolutionizes Smart Clothes

Scientists have found a fast and simple way to make super-elastic, multi-material, high-performance fibers. Their fibers have already been used as sensors on robotic fingers and in clothing. This...

E-beam Sterilization: The Impact on Skin-Contact Adhesives for Medical Applications

The performance of adhesives used for wearable medical device applications is critical to the efficacy of the final product, as an improperly affixed device is...

‘Candy Cane’ Polymer Weave Could Power Future Functional Fabrics and Devices

If scientists are ever going to deliver on the promise of implantable artificial organs or clothing that dries itself, they’ll first need to solve the problem of...

Illuminated Pajamas Treat Newborns

To treat newborns for treat, the babies lie in incubators. Irradiation with blue light in an incubator is necessary because toxic decomposition products of the blood pigment hemoglobin are deposited in the...

Fiber-Based OLEDs Enable Flexible, Wearable Displays

A research team has created wearable displays for various applications including healthcare. Integrating organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) into fabrics, the team developed highly flexible...