Functional Textiles and ApplicationsTextile materials are contributing to many applications, even in areas where fibers might not immediately be expected such as in personal protective equipment, light-weight structural materials, wearable electronics or biomedical products.
Functional Textiles and Applications
Textile materials are contributing to many applications, even in areas where fibers might not immediately be expected such as in personal protective equipment, light-weight structural materials, wearable electronics or biomedical products. Optimization of the textiles for these applications, as well as development of new functional textile applications, are important goals for CTSE. Research happens on different levels, such as the functionalization of fibers (for example to make them antimicrobial), the design of functional textile structures (for example to create hybrid hydrophilic/hydrophobic structures that can guide liquid away from the source), or even to create wearable electronics entirely made from textiles (for example a protective vest with built-in radio antenna). The group has a long history in so-called smart textiles in which smart electronics are combined with textile materials to create all kinds of useful applications and provide a new level of user-interaction that only textiles can provide. A glossary of some of our current research topics is given below.
Delamination and impact resistant composite materials using nanofiber toughening veils
Unbreakable composites using nanofibers
Adding tough polymer nanofibers alongside glass or carbon fibers greatly increases the damage resistance of composite materials.
Application of textile-based electrodes for ECG monitoring in animals
This work will focus on the development of silver-based textile electrodes to measure a dog's and horse's ECG signals and contrast the results with those obtained using gelled standard AG/AgCl electrodes.
In-house development and characterization of Additive manufacturing technologies for the production of continuous fiber reinforced 3D printed thermoplastic composites allows for the production of intricate, small scale load bearing parts.
Balancing comfort and safety in personal protective clothing
Comfort plays an essential part in Personal Protective Clothing. This research focuses on combining selected objective and subjective tests to develop a protocol for accurate assessment of clothing comfort.