Fabric memories: description and composition

In 2003, the Institute of Textiles and Clothing of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University received a grant for the development of tissues with a memory effect. As a result of the research, the team working on the project created a new material with the function of memorizing the shape assigned to it.

Fabric memories (composition - 100% polyester), which appeared on the market as a result of this breakthrough, found its place in the niche of materials for sewing raincoats, jackets, things for children and adults.

Subsequently, the project resulted in a separate branch of the textile industry. A material capable of "remembering" the form given to it, and then returning to the original, under the influence of heat or other triggers became very popular as a basis for sewing jackets, raincoats, skirts, pillows and other fabric products.

A way to create an "intelligent" thing. History of tissue with a memory effect

How was the memorial fabric created? The description of the project should start with Professor Jinliang Hu from the Institute of Textiles and Clothing. She joined the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1994, and by 2001 she was the first Asian scientist to receive the Fiber Science Achievement Award.

Everything was realized with the help of the correct process of production, resulting in the creation of a material with a symbolic name - the cloth of the memorial. Reviews of clothes from her often include praise like "pleasant matte-velvety surface", "worn perfectly", "in the care of easy, but looks luxurious."

In 2003, the project received funding of 6.3 million from the Innovation and Technology Foundation (ITF). In addition, four private companies sponsored the creation of the world's first Center of tissues with a memory effect on the basis of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Memorial Properties

Since the foundation of the Center, many variations of the material with "memory" molecules have been developed. And only one of them is the cloth of the memorial. The description of this material can be reduced to several main points:

• Easily washable;
• Easily and quickly dries;
• Do not "sit down" when washing and after it (if you follow the manufacturer's recommendations);
• Does not stretch;
• Not brand;
• Does not crumple.

When treated with a special liquid, it becomes waterproof.

Professor Jinliang Hu

After graduating from the institute, Jinlian Hu concentrated her interests on studying the structure, mechanics and modeling of textiles with the memory effect. It has borne fruit - it created the world's first material with similar properties. It was based on cellulose. Numerous patents of China and the United States have been issued for this development.

Success did not stop her career - further Jinliang Hu became the initiator of the creation and the scientific director of the Textile Center with shape memory effect (in 2003). Currently, the GPU supports the development of a fiberglass knitted fabric with a shape memory effect, which gives hope for the appearance of new interesting fabrics in the near future.

A few more advantages

Memories, in comparison with "conventional" materials, are stronger and more resistant to stretching. Fabric memories (stretches or not it as a whole? Within certain limits - it is enough to make clothes comfortable, but incomparable to stretch) even after a lot of washing does not turn yellow, will not become "dimensionless" or hopelessly crumpled.

In addition, clothing has been saved from one more drawback: over time, the material "at the seams" will not turn into sacking, as happens with some other tissues, and if this happens, everything is easy to fix.

Fabrics with triple memory

There are also other variations of materials, other than those developed by the Hong Kong University. For example, based on polymers. Such a tissue will restore its original softness and shape after soaking in hot water (+ 60 ° C) or from body temperature, even if it has been strongly wrung before.

Although most fabrications can only "memorize" two states (permanent and temporary), there are materials that have a triple "memory". These products pass from one time state to another under the influence of one temperature and return to a constant form after the application of another, higher t °.

How does the shape memory effect occur?

Polymers have two states: a temporary visible form and a "constant", which for the time being is hidden. Once the fabric is made, it is given a temporary shape by heating, deformation and cooling. It retains it until the process of returning to the "permanent" is launched.

The secret of such variability lies in the molecular structure of the tissue. The fabric of the memorial, the description and photo of which is not so different from the "ordinary" textile materials, nevertheless has an unusual molecular structure.

Cotton Memori - what kind of cloth?

By adding polymers to other fibers, manufacturers obtain fabrics with a wide range of properties. An example of a mix is a memorial cottage. What kind of fabric is this material?

To be precise, the ratio of cotton and polyester fibers in it varies from 40:50 to 50:50 and more. This fabric is strong, elastic, well tolerates washing.

From it sew skirts and trousers, dresses, suits. Clothing allows the body to breathe freely, does not crumple, keeps its shape, is able to absorb moisture well enough and dries quickly. However, despite its positive qualities, the memorial coton (which is a tissue without flaws) is not too accessible from the price point of view.

Care of the cloth memorials

Such material can often be found in the form of raincoats and jackets, from it sew things for both children and adults. Specific recommendations for care should be looked at from the manufacturer, as they depend on the fabric composition of the clothing. However, in general, the care tips are as follows:

• Washing manual or machine, at a temperature not exceeding 40 ° C;
• Undesirable drying in the drum;
• Can be ironed at t ° not higher than 150 ° C;
• Bleach, chlorine-containing powders;
• Use solvents and stain removers is also undesirable - fabric memories (customer reviews, however, fully reflect the understanding of the situation even without special warning) is too gentle material.

Other tissues with memory effect. Shirt from Italians

The Italian firm Corpo Novo has created a men's shirt that rolls up sleeves when it's hot. The material of this shirt consists of nylon and nitinol - a memory alloy with a shape.

Corpo Novo employees managed to connect them together. For every five nylon fibers, one thin wire of nitinol is necessary.

As a result, the material turned out with a memory effect. If you give it some shape at a certain temperature, and then cool it and change that shape, the fabric will restore it again when it's heated to that same set temperature. The invention of Corpo Novo is capable in this sense of more than the fabric of the memorial. The description of the Asian material of such significant changes does not include the material of its condition.

For example, it is enough to iron such a shirt with an iron at + 50 ° С. Then you can crumple it up as you like - after heating to + 50 ° C it automatically and automatically returns to the "ironed" state.

The same applies to the style - rolling up the sleeves and heating the fabric, the owner thereby forces the material to "remember" this state. After, if you cool down and spread everything, the shirt will look quite normal - until it is heated to the same temperature again.

For comparison: the cloth of the memorial (the description of which can be more easily reduced to the phrase "an improved material for sewing dresses and raincoats" than to the concept of a "product with shape memory") is not so programmed and straightened, although it was created specifically for the textile industry .

Nitinol is an alloy of titanium and nickel, in a ratio of 55: 45. It was first obtained in 1958 in the US military laboratory by William Buller and Frederick Van. It was originally used for military needs, but eventually it found application in the industrial and technological sectors.

The shirt from Corpo Novo, despite its unusual properties, did not find a way to the market, as production is too expensive - only the manufacture of one prototype cost the firm about $ 3.5 thousand. But numerous pillows, mattresses and blankets, containing elements and tissues with memory effect, are sold quite successfully.