Auxetic textiles, a category of fiber-based materials that possesses nonconventional properties including double curved shape under bending, high indentation resistance, high energy and vibration absorption capabilities, have been widely applied in in garments for such functions as impact protection, medical care and smart wearable devices, and so forth.
Having a negative Poisson's ratio, auxetic textiles tend to expand in all directions when stretched and shrink when compressed, hence enabling high level of comfortability and flexibility, as well as possibilities when applied in clothing design.
Prof. Hu Hong from the Institute of Textiles and Clothing, member of Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems, has successfully invented a series of auxetic materials, including auxetic yarns, auxetic fabrics and auxetic textile composites by altering the structures of fibers using different types of textile technologies including yarn spinning, knitting, weaving and braiding.
As the newly invented auxetic materials were originated from the laboratory, challenges were found in the initial stage of the real manufacturing environment. The lack of equipment to produce commercial auxetic materials, which have a more complex fiber assemble structure, had inspired Prof. Hu to develop new equipment himself.
Also, the manufacturing processes for his new invention had to be specially designed as there had been no similar process that could be referenced. The limited production capability in the initial stage has led to shortage of supply of usable auxetic textiles, restricting mass production of commercial end-use products.
The research team is gaining experience in auxetic textiles production, commercialization of more high quality auxetic textiles has been made available, and Prof. Hu's inventions have been applied in medical care, sports, functional and protective clothing, and wearable technology, etc.
