Smart Textile is defined as textiles that interact with their surroundings. Basically smart textiles are referred to as those textiles that are able to react and adapt to an environment stimulus. The origin of the stimulus and the response can be either from an electrical, thermal, chemical or magnetic source.
It is a branch of technical textile. Fabrics of smart textiles are developed and manufactured to include technologies that provide the wearer with increased functionality.
Classification of Smart Textile
Smart textiles can be classified into three categories according to their functional activity. They are as follows:
01. Passive Smart Textile: It is the first generation of smart textiles, which can only sense the environmental conditions.
02. Active Smart Textile: It is the second generation that has both actuators and sensors. The actuators act upon the detected signal either directly or from a central control unit. Active Smart textiles are shape memory, water-resistant, chameleonic, and vapor permeable heat storage, thermoregulated, vapor absorbing, and heat evolving fabric.
03. Ultra Smart Textile: It is the third generation of smart textiles, which can sense, react, and adapt themselves to environmental conditions. A very smart textile essentially consists of a unit, which works like the brain, with cognition, reasoning and activating capacities.
Characteristics of fibers used in Smart Textile
- It should have high strength
- It should be high chemical and combustion-resistant organic fiber
- The Fiber should be high modulus organic fiber
- It can be Ultra-fine and novelty fiber
- It should be high-performance inorganic fiber
Technology Involved in Smart Textiles:
- Fiber optics
- Phase change materials
- Nanotechnologies for fiber and fabric coating
- Thermochromic materials
- Organic or plastic electronics
- Shape memory alloys and polymers
- Conductive fibers and yarns – metals, wires & conductive polymers
- Quantum tunneling composites for switching devices
- Biomaterials
- Piezoelectric resistance
- Light-emitting polymers & diodes
- Photovoltaic and solar cells
- Photoluminescence
- Plasma technologies
- Photochromic materials
- Holography
- Radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags
- Global positioning and wireless communications
- Microelectronic mechanical systems (MEMS)
- Microencapsulation for therapy delivery
Importance of Smart Textile for Future
- It is becoming internationally a dynamic innovation for the textile sector.
- For the textile sector, smart textiles are promoting a good strengthen position internationally and create new job opportunities for poor people.
- It is a new field to spread knowledge to develop through textile material and textile processes.
- Textile is a material close to the human being and it is a natural carrier of technology. So It can easily contribute to the upcoming textile sector.
Conclusion
Now at the end of this article, we can easily say that It is so much useful for a human beings. So we should have proper knowledge in this field.
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