This document provides an overview of smart textiles. It defines smart textiles as textiles that can sense and react to environmental conditions or stimuli. It discusses the scope of smart textiles, including the integration of various disciplines required. It outlines different generations of textile wearable technologies and describes textronics. It also covers various topics related to smart textiles like classifications, materials, incorporation into textiles, components, working process, applications, and the relationship to technical textiles.

1. J.N. GOVT. ENGG. COLLEGE
SUNDERNAGAR
Presentation 1
Technical Seminar
TE - 614
Submitted To: Submitted By:
Er. PARVEEN KUMAR ABHISHEK RANA
10BTD5090001
Textile Engineering
Smart Textiles

2. INTRODUCTION
 SMART TEXTILES are defined as textiles that can
sense and react to environmental conditions or stimuli,
from mechanical, thermal, magnetic, chemical,
electrical, or other sources.
 They are able to sense and respond to external
conditions (stimuli) in a predetermined way.
 Textile products which can act in a different manner
than an average fabric and are mostly able to perform a
special function certainly count as smart textiles.

3. SCOPE OF SMART
TEXTILES
The idea itself is very progressive and in reality such textiles are a fact technically
possible today and commercially viable tomorrow. The technology of SMART TEXTILES
is an integration of almost all disciplines of applied sciences like:
 Textile Chemistry
 Fiber Technology
 Cloth Manufacturing Technology
 Material Science
 Structural Mechanics and Aviation Hydraulics
 Electronics and Instrumentation
 Telecommunication
 Artificial Intelligence
 Molecular Biology And Organic Chemistry
 Molecular Engineering And Nanotechnology
 Biotechnology
 Information Technology
 Theory Of Chaos And Randomizations.

4. PRINCIPLE FIELDS OF
SMART TEXTILES
1. Military (e.g. Uniforms which can detect chemical threats in a battlefield).
2. Airplanes (e.g. In manufacture of flaps found in aircraft wings)
3. Biomedical field (e.g. Manufacture of smart sutures, tissues)
4. Space Research (e.g. Special spacesuits designed for astronauts)
5. Comfort Wears (e.g. Fabrics which can maintain body temperature)
6. Sports (e.g. Fabrics which can make athletes feel comfortable even in stretched body
conditions)
7. Fashion clothing (e.g. Fabrics which can change color according to ambient
temperatures)
Smart textiles have a lot many applications besides the above mentioned ones, but
before we discuss them let us concentrate on the fundamental mechanisms that make a
fabric smart. In this new era the smart textiles are considered also as textronics.

5. GENERATIONS OF
TEXTILE WEARABLE
TECHNOLOGIES
A new report from scientification research examines the markets for
textile based wearable technologies, the companies producing them
and the enabling technologies. The report identifies three distinct
generations of textile wearable technologies:
1. "First generation" attach a sensor to apparel. This approach is
currently taken by sportswear brands such as adidas, nike and under
armour
2. "Second generation" products embed the sensor in the garment, as
demonstrated by current products from samsung, alphabet, ralph
lauren and flex.
3. In "third generation" wearable, the garment is the sensor. A
growing number of companies are creating pressure, strain and
temperature sensors for this purpose

6. TEXTRONICS
The term textronics refers to interdisciplinary approaches in the processes of producing
and designing textile materials, which began about the year 2000. Textronics products
are characterized by the following features:
1. Flexibility meaning facility in modifying the construction at the stage of design,
production and exploitation; for example, modular construction.
2. Intelligence of the textiles referring to the possibility of an automatic change in
properties influenced by external factors (parameters) and even taking decisions, which
means learning or communication with the environment.
3. Multifunctionality, or the ease of
realizing different functions by one
product.
4. It can be stated that textronics means
the design and production of intelligent
and interactive textile materials which are
characterized by variable structures or
electrical resistance, which include
microchip elements and is characterized by
self-adaptive features.

7. CLASSIFICATION
Smart textiles can be categorized into two categories according to the purpose:
Smart
Textiles
According to Purpose
Performance
Enhancing
Aesthetic
According to
Functional Activity
Active
Smart
Textiles
Passive
Smart
Textiles
Very or Ultra
Smart Textiles

8. AESTHETIC SMART
TEXTILES
 Aesthetic examples include fabrics that light up and fabrics
that can change color.
 Fabrics gather energy from the environment by harnessing
vibrations, sound or heat, reacting to these inputs.
 The color changing and lighting scheme can also work by
embedding the fabric with electronics that can power it.

9. PERFORMANCE
ENHANCING SMART
TEXTILES
 Performance enhancing smart textiles are intended for use
in athletic, extreme sports and military applications.
 These include fabrics designed to regulate body
temperature, reduce wind resistance, and control muscle
vibration – all of which may improve athletic performance.
 Other fabrics have been developed for protective clothing, to
guard against extreme environmental hazards, such as
radiation and the effects of space travel.

10. ACTIVE SMART
TEXTILES
 The second generation of smart textiles have both
actuators and sensors and tune functionality to specific
agents or environments, are called active smart textiles.
 These are shape memory, chameleonic, water resistant
and vapor permeable (hydrophilic/ non porous), heat
storage, thermo regulated, vapor absorbing, heat
evolving fabric and electrically heated suits.
 Phase change materials and shape memory materials,
heat sensitive dyes etc. in textiles form active smart
textiles.

11. PASSIVE SMART
TEXTILES
 The first generation of smart textiles, which can provide
additional features in passive mode that is not
concerning with alteration in environment are called
passive smart textiles.
 Optical fiber embedded fabrics and conductive fabrics
are good examples of passive smart textiles.
 UV protective clothing, multilayer composite yarn and
textiles, plasma treated clothing, ceramic coated textiles,
conductive fibers, fabrics with optical sensors, are some
examples of passive smart textiles.

12. VERY OR ULTRA
SMART TEXTILES
 Very smart textiles are the third generation of smart textiles, which
can sense, react, and adapt themselves to environmental conditions
or stimuli.
 These may deal actively with life threatening situations (battlefield
or during accidents) or to keep high levels of comfort even during
extreme environmental changes.
 These very smart textiles essentially comprise of a unit, which works
like the brain; with cognition, reasoning and activating capacities.
 Ultra smart textiles are an attempt to make electronic devices a
genuine part of our daily life by embedding entire systems into
clothing and accessories.
 Though the entire potential has not been completely realized, the
developments so far can be termed as only rudiments of very smart
textiles.
 For example, spacesuits, musical jackets, I-wear, data wear, sports
jacket, intelligent bra, smart clothes, wearable computer etc.

13. RAW MATERIAL
Smart textile fabric can be made from materials ranging from
traditional cotton, polyester, and nylon, to advanced Kevlar
with integrated functionalities.
However, in the scope of the present, fabrics with electrical
conductivity are of interest.

14. MATERIALS
1. Metal Fibers
2. Conductive Inks
3. Inherently Conductive Polymers
4. Electrically Conductive Textiles
5. Optical Fibers
6. Nano Particles
7. Shape Memory Materials
8. Chromic Materials
9. Phase Change Materials(PCMs)

15. METAL FIBERS
Metal threads are made up of metal fibers which are very thin metal. The fibers
are produced either through a bundle-drawing process or else shaved off the
edge of thin metal sheeting. Metallic threads and yarns may be knitted or
woven into a textile and used to form interconnects between components
(Figure 1). They may also be used as electrodes for monitoring electrical
physiological activity such as electrocardiogram (ECG) signals.

16. CONDUCTIVE INKS
A layout can be screen-printed using conductive inks to add conductivity
to specific areas of a garment. Carbon, copper, silver, nickel and gold
may be added to conventional printing inks to make them conductive
(Figure 2). Printed areas can be subsequently used as switches or
pressure pads for the activation of circuits.

17. INHERENTLY
CONDUCTIVE
POLYMERS
Inherently conductive polymers have both sensing
and actuation properties. Some commonly had
known ICPs include polyacetylene, polypyrrole,
polyaniline. Polypyrrole (PPy) is most suitable as it
has high mechanical strength with high elasticity, is
relatively stable in air and electro. The major
advantage of this approach is that the sensors retain
the natural texture of the material. The problem with
these devices is a variation in resistance over time
and high response time.

18. ELECTRICALLY
CONDUCTIVE TEXTILES
Electrically conductive textiles are already used for years in various industrial application fields for
the purpose of controlling static and electromagnetic interference shielding. Nowadays, textiles are
modified to offer a good electrical conductivity to be applied in smart textiles (Figure 3). Here
electrically conductive textiles are used as electrodes or as interconnection between the different
components.

19. OPTICAL FIBERS
Plastic optical fibers may be easily integrated into a textile. They have the
advantage of not generating heat and are insensitive to EM radiation. Optical
fibers may serve a number of functions in a smart garment-transmit data signals,
transmit light for optical sensing, detect deformations in fabrics due to stress and
strain and perform chemical sensing. Commercially available Luminex ®fabric is
a textile with woven optical fibers capable of emitting its own light (Figure 4).
While this has aesthetic appeal for the fashion industry it is also used in safety
vests and potential to be used for data transmission.

20. COATING WITH
NANO-PARTICLES
Coating a fabric with nano particles is being widely applied
within the textile industry to improve the performance and
functionality of textiles. Nanotechnology can add
permanent effects and provide high durability fabrics.
Coating with Nano-particles can enhance the textiles with
properties such as anti-bacterial, water-repellence, UV-
protection and self-cleaning, while still maintaining breath-
ability and tactile properties of the textile. Nano-tex has a
range of products using such coatings to resist spills, repel
and release stains, and resist static.

21. SHAPE MEMORY
MATERIALS
Shape memory alloys, such as nickel-titanium, have been developed to provide increased protection
against sources of heat. A shape memory alloy possesses different properties below and above the
temperature at which it is activated. At the activation temperature, the alloy exerts a force to return
to a previously adopted shape and becomes much stiffer. The temperature of activation can be
chosen by altering the ratio of nickel to titanium in the alloy (Figure 5).

22. CHROMIC
MATERIALS
Chromic materials can change their color according to external
conditions. These materials have mostly used in fashion, to create
funny color changing designs. According to the stimuli type, chromic
materials can be categorized as-
Photo chromic External stimulus is light.
Thermo chromic External stimulus is heat.
Electro chromic External stimulus is electricity.
Piezo chromic External stimulus is pressure.
Solvate chromic External stimulus is liquid or gas.

23. PHASE CHANGE
MATERIALS(PCMs)
Now days, phase change materials are highly applied
in the field of textiles for different kinds of products
such as apparel, underwear, socks, shoes, bedding
accessories and sleeping bags. For multifunctional
products also are applicable in the specialty items like
anti - ballistic vests, automotive, medical or for other
industrial applications.

24. SMART MATERIAL
A smart polymer or material can be described as a material
that will change its characteristics according to outside
conditions or stimuli.
Category
Fundamental material
characteristics
Fundamental system
behaviors
Traditional materials:
Natural materials (stone,
wood) fabricated materials
(steel, aluminum, concrete
Materials have given properties
and are acted upon
Materials have no or limited
intrinsic active response
capability but can have good
performance properties
High performance
materials: polymers,
composites
Material properties are designed
for specific purposes
Very good performance
properties
Smart materials: Property-
changing and energy
exchanging materials
Properties are designed to
respond intelligently to varying
external conditions or stimuli
Smart materials have active
responses to external stimuli and
can serve as sensors and
actuators

25. COMPONENTS IN
SMART TEXTILE
Components in
Smart Textile
Sensors Actuators
Control
Units
The sensors provide a nerve system to detect signals. Some of the materials act
only as sensors and some as both sensors and actuators. Actuators act upon the
signals and work in coordination with the controlling unit to produce an
appropriate output.

26. INCORPORATION OF
SMARTNESS INTO
TEXTILES
 Textile to behave smartly it must have a sensor, an actuator
(for active smart textiles) and a controlling unit (for very
smart textiles).
 These components may be fiber optics, phase change
materials, shape memory materials, thermo chromic dyes,
miniaturized electronic items etc.
 These components form an integrated part of the textile
structure and can be incorporated into the substrate at any of
the following levels:
1) Fiber spinning level
2) Yarn/fabric formation level
3) Finishing level

27. INCORPORATION OF
SMARTNESS INTO
TEXTILES

28. INCORPORATION OF
SMARTNESS INTO
TEXTILES
 The active (smart) material can be incorporated into the
spinning dope or polymer chips prior to spinning e.g. lyocell
fiber can be modified by admixtures of electrically conductive
components during production to make an electrically
conductive cellulosic fiber.
 Sensors and activators can also be embedded into the textile
structure during fabric formation e.g. during weaving.
 Many active finishes have been developed which are imparted
to the fabric during finishing. The electronic control units can
be synchronized with each other during finishing.
 Techniques such as microencapsulation are generally
preferred for incorporation of smartness imparting material in
the textile substrate.

29. WORKING PROCESS
Trigger or Stimuli
The sensors provide a nerve
system to detect signals
The processor analyzes and
evaluates the signals
Actuators act upon detected and
evaluated signal either directly
orfrom central control unit
Response or Action
Controlling

30. APPLICATIONS OF
SMART TEXTILES
1. Health
2. Military / Defense
3. Fashion and Entertainment
4. Sports Wear
5. Comfort Wear
6. Hear Protection
7. Medical Applications
8. Computing Textiles
9. Fashion
10. Aviation
11. Space Research

31. RELATION AND
DIFFERENCE WITH
TECHNICAL TEXTILES
 Before the existence of smart and interactive textiles, technical and
functional textiles served the human race in all aspects of application
areas.
 Tents, ropes, ship guiding fabrics, military garments, curtains, bandages
and others were used in the past many centuries. Still these and other
technical and casualclothing‘s are on usemanyfoldstimes.
 It is undeniable before the development of smart textile; the functional
textiles were the advancedtextiles.
 However whatever they perform they are not active. Theyare passive.They
are not designed to regulate themselves. No smart material is applied to
them.
 They can be protective cloth but cannot be as the smart protective
clothing.