Towards responding fabrics – textile processing of thin threadlike pneumatic actuators

• With few exceptions (such as 1) textiles have not been considered as means for obtaining actuation. This is surprising as textiles have many advantageous characteristics such as the D=M property, which stands for Doing Devices while Making the Material. This means that functions are introduced simultaneously as the material, such as in a weave, is built up tread by tread. Traditionally a tread could have a certain colour so in total an aesthetical pattern is formed. Now we take a step beyond this working with threads having more advanced functions. Included are fiber formed structures showing actuation behavior. This we employ here. We make fiber formed actuating structures (FAS) following the McKibben principle (2) with braided mesh sleeves surrounding a prolonged inflatable tube. Here we worked with relatively large diameters in the relaxed state but show that there is prospect for obtaining relaxed diameters of less than 1 mm approaching the range of large scale weaving manufacturing.We study the behavior of these fibre formed actuating structures individually. Length changes obtained are -20%. We then make textile constructions by integrating several of these FASes with textile processing. By this, we build simple models of fabrics showing actuating behavior.   This study shows how textile constructions can support or hinder overall movement. It is a first logical step in order to get an understanding of actuating fabrics based also on other actuating mechanisms (3).

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Textil-, gummi- och polymermaterial (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Textile, Rubber and Polymeric Materials (hsv//eng)

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