Guide for new business and research ideas

Action

Content

Title of the project

DEVELOPMENT OF AUXETIC TEXTILE MATERIALS

Envisaged Program for funding / other sources for funding

H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 (Research and Innovation Staff Exchange) – international and inter-sector collaboration through research and innovation staff exchanges

Domain of interest

Packaging industry, medicine, protective materials

Abstract

(up to 500 words)

Auxetic textiles belong to a class of extraordinary materials that become fatter when stretched and are increasingly attaining some prominence in many applications of technical textiles. In the recent years the use of textile technology to fabricate auxetic materials attracts more and more attention.

The knitting process is an extremely versatile manufacturing process and an enormous range of knit structures exists. Compared with other knitting technologies such as warp knitting and circular knitting, flat knitting is characterized by its high process flexibility and great fabric structure variety. The knitting abilities of a computerized flat knitting machine which can be exploited to fabricate the auxetic fabrics include: individual needle selection, loop transfer, knitting of different kinds of stitches in the same knitting course, such as normal stitches, tuck stitches and miss stitches, racking and intarsia, easy adjustment of knitting parameters during knitting process, such as loop length, yarn tension, fabric take-down tension, yarn carrier change and machine speed.

The project main goal is to engineer auxetic textiles, knitted from conventional yarns, by combining the knowledge of geometry and fabric structural characteristics, and to check their suitability for packaging materials development. This research proposes the flat knitting technology as an alternative method for fabricating auxetic fabrics, and a range of fabrics based on different kinds of geometries, structural parameters, yarns combination, will be produced. 

The selection of a knit structure designed for packaging products, is based on some technical criteria, such as the deformability of the knit fabric, the resulting mechanical properties of the knit, the hand, the moisture management properties. Theoretical models will be developed, taking into consideration the influencing factors such as: loop shape deformation, yarn slippage effect, to predict the auxetic effects of these knitted fabrics.

Keywords (up to 5)

Textile materials, weft knitting, foldable, auxetic, packaging

Envisaged partners sought

University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Hong Kong Polytechnic, Hong Kong

Bolton Institute, UK

Contact data

(Name/Surname, Organization, email)

Prof. Dr. Eng. Mirela Blaga, Ctext ATI

”Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Romania

mblaga@tex.tuiasi.ro/mirela_blaga@yahoo.com