Weaving the future: dynamic designs of active textiles using liquid crystalline elastomer yarn Pedro E. S. Silva, Maija Vaara, Mithila Mohan, Jaana Vapaavuori 1 Department of Chemistry and Materials Science, School of Chemical Engineering, Aalto University, Kemistintie 1, 02150 Espoo, Finland In almost everyone's life, a piece of cloth ended up washing or drying under conditions that led to shrinking. This irreversible transformation makes clothes no longer fit, so the textile industry uses processes or materials to attenuate the change of clothes' original form. [1] On the contrary direction, the shape-shifting of fabrics was also explored to create three-dimensional designs. [2,3] The additional dimension offers not only the possibility for human creativity through fashion but also to change the physical properties from the equivalent bi-dimensional architectures, for instance, thermal insulation and elasticity. Still, yarns used in these types of textiles would only work once, and the reversibility of active textiles is mostly unexplored. Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) have long offered promise to be the base materials for large-stroke reversible actuation. Yet, it was not possible to produce filaments from LCEs that would be suitable for standard textile production methods. We present the weaving of active fabrics incorporating LCE yarn based on recent developments in LCE fiber spinning. [4,5] The weaving technique is widely used by the textile industry, in which the many ways of interlacing yarns can change the strength, flexibility, and durability of the fabric. Analogously, we studied how the different weaving patterns influence the reversible actuation of fabrics. We also demonstrate reversible 3D shape changes of active fabric by utilizing circular weaving patterns that lead to cone shapes upon heating. The seamless combination of active LCE yarns into the rich portfolio of existing passive yarns can be transformative in creating a new type of stimuli- responsive actuating textiles. References 1. A. Kaur and J. Chakraborty. Controlled eco-friendly shrink-resist finishing of wool using bromelain.Journal of Cleaner Production, 108:503–513, Dec. 2015. 2. J. Underwood. The design of 3D shape knitted preforms. PhD Thesis, RMIT University, 2009. 3. M. Mohan. Unfold. Master’s thesis, Aalto University. School of Arts, Design and Architecture, 2020. 4. X. Lin, W. Zou, and E. M. Terentjev. Double Networks of Liquid-Crystalline Elastomers with EnhancedMechanical Strength. Macromolecules, 55(3):810–820, Feb. 2022. 5. P. E. S. Silva, X. Lin, M. Vaara, M. Mohan, J. Vapaavuori, and E. M. Terentjev. Active Textile Fabricsfrom Weaving Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Filaments. Advanced Materials, page 2210689, Jan. 2023.
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