Researchers at he ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) in Wollongong have created new fibre structures replacing conventional fibres with those that can conduct electricity. This introduces the ability to monitor human movement using wearable garments, and even to store the energy required to power such a function.
The team demonstrated a working device with remote sensing capabilities using a knee sleeve prototype of the fabric that ‘talks’ to a commercial wireless receiver. The knitted textile is based on polymeric composite fibres, produced at the Australian National Fabrication Facility, and is highly sensitive, stable and able to detect a wide range of human movement.
Because the fibres can stretch and conduct electricity, it allows the fibres to respond to body movement. For energy storage the materials that make up a battery have been braided into appropriate arrangements to deliver energy storage capabilities.
ACES director Gordon Wallace said an interdisciplinary approach to the research was crucial to the team’s success.
“These advances are made possible by the combination of skills that ARC Centres of Excellence bring together to tackle challenging areas,” Wallace said.
“We are able to take fundamental advances in materials science and engineering and to realise wearable structures for use in sports training and rehabilitation applications.”
He said the fibres are a mixture of mixture of organic conducting polymers and polyurethane. They are spun together to form yarn then knitted with Spandex.
When the fabric is stretched, its electrical resistance is reduced in a predictable way allowing accurate measurement of the strain of the material.
Wallace said such a fabric could have applications in sports science or rehabilitation medicine where accurate measurement of human movement could be critical.