Fabricating the future
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Mr. Fairneny's group is looking at different ways to make electronic equipment more integral to textiles, and then to manufacture them. Much of the technology is at least six to eight years away from practical use, he says.
"We need to make the antennae and other electronics as unobtrusive as possible to the soldier," he says, adding that the new technologies will require training for use.
The US Army also is collaborating with MIT, having recently promised the university $50 million for a new Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. The aim is to improve soldiers' protection and ability to survive using new tiny technologies to detect threats, and automatically treat some medical conditions.
The Army isn't the only branch of the military actively developing smart textiles. The US Navy funded a project in 1996 that eventually turned into the Smart Shirt, a product commercialized by SensaTex Inc. in Atlanta, with technology from Georgia Tech Research Corp. The T-shirt functions like a computer, with optical and conductive fibers integrated into the garment. It can monitor the vital signs, such as heart rate and breathing, of wearers, including law enforcement officers, military personnel, astronauts, infants, and elderly people living alone.
But for consumers, antibacterial and antimicrobial polymers may end up having the broadest applications. These new materials could find their way into everything from socks and children's clothing to soldiers' uniforms, and from surgical gowns to countertops and refrigerators that can fight off germs.
Gregory Tew, assistant professor in the department of polymer science and engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and his colleagues are devising molecules that act in much the same way as cells in the human body to combat germs. In addition to embedding such molecules, called polymers and oligomers, into clothing, they could be put into paints and coatings. This could, for example, keep barnacles from adhering to vessels, and prevent ceramic tiles in the bathroom from mildewing.
"We think we can make a material that will be cost-effective and nontoxic," says Dr. Tew. "And it will be resistant to water and detergents. It has the potential to keep surfaces and materials permanently antiseptic."
The College of Textiles at North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, has been working on a flame-retardant compound that could be used in children's clothing or toys, as well as soldiers' uniforms or even Formula One car racing suits.
Alan Tonelli, professor of polymer science at the college, says one application could be spraying polymer-based clothing onto emergency workers going into a fire or dangerous chemical spill almost like spraying on a cocoon of protective fabric that later could be removed.
"Body scanners already can measure and make a garment to fit you perfectly," Dr. Tonelli says. "But we could put this into a portable machine for a hazardous-materials crew, or even use it to cover up a dangerous spill in the future."
Making smart fabrics affordable, workable, and user friendly is still some years off, most in the field acknowledge. But one thing is certain. When they arrive, people will think twice before balling up their dirty "smart clothes" and throwing them on the floor.
