Technical textiles Essay Example for Free

Technical textiles Essay A small proportion of technical textiles are manufactured from high-end fibres like Kevlar or Nomex. Most technical textiles are made from everyday fibres such as polyester, polypropylene, polyamide or acrylic. Gore-Tex ® fabrics are created by laminating the Gore-Tex ® membrane to high performance textiles, then sealing them with a solution for guaranteed waterproof protection. Phosphorescent textiles are a class of luminescent materials that show long-lasting bright afterglow in dark after charged by a source of light capable of exciting the material to a persistent excited state. Some other technical textiles are Scotchlite, electronic textiles, the smart bra, microfibres, Nano-fibres and Skintex skincare. Smart fibres have been developed to provide functions that will respond to and protect our bodies. They can be said to be intelligent because of their ability to react to external stimuli or changes in the environment without human intervention. Smart fibres are split into four categories; Biomimetic fibres that mimic nature, Shape Memory textiles, Sense and Track fibres and Chromatic fibres. Biomimetic fibres mimic good design in nature; some of these include Fastskin by Speedo and a fabric by Stomatex. Fastskin enables the swimmer to be streamlined by reducing passive drag by up to 4%. Stomatex uses a pattern of dome-shaped vapour chambers to allow body heat and perspiration to exit through tiny pores at a controlled rate. The body temperature remains stable at whatever activity is being carried out. Technical textiles differ from Smart fibres due to the fact that they have different uses. Smart fibres were developed to provide functions that will respond to our bodies and protect them, whereas technical textiles already have a function and usually respond to changes in the environment. Most smart fibres aim to enhance performance, for example fastskin aims to reduce drag for swimmers and stomatex aims to maintain a stable body temperature throughout exercise, probably enabling you to work harder for longer. Technical textiles have different functions, they are widely used for their useful functions. Scotchlite if for safety, it reflects light, enabling the wearer to be seen in the dark by headlights or torches. The smart bra detects the early stages of breast cancer using microwave antennae. Odour control- does as it says; an antimicrobial agent can be encapsulated within the fibres to prevent bacterial growth. Technical textiles can be extremely useful to users in the 21st century. Softswitch joined forces with ONeill to produce the first wearable electronics product with Bluetooth. The ski jacket was adapted to withstand snowboarding environments, and many functions such as a mobile phone and mp3 player were integrated into the sportswear. Also woven into the jacket are electrically conductive fabric tracks which connect the chip module to a fabric keyboard and built in speakers to the hood. There is a microphone integrated into the collar of the jacket for phone calls. This is similar to the Nike ACG Comm jacket. It is Nikes latest snow jacket and comes with a built in radio, microphone and earpiece. Equipment like this could be lifesaving. If you are taking part in snowsports and you happen to get hurt you can communicate via the built in functions, this is particularly useful in the 21st century as many people go skiing and snowboarding off-piste and if theyre not careful they may get injured, the only way for them to communicate could be via the built in communicational devices. Nomex is a registered trademark for a flame-resistant meta-aramid material developed in the early 1960s by DuPont (now Invista) and first marketed in 1967. A Nomex hood is a common piece of firefighting equipment. The hood protects the parts of the head that are no covered by the helmet and face mask from the intense heat of the fire. Most of a fire-fighters suit would be made from Nomex