Aalto Virtual Exhibitions
Cooperating partners: Aalto University - VIA University College - University of Borås - University of Turku - Iceland University of the Arts
The exhibition features innovative bioeconomy products and prototypes of textiles responsive to temperature and light.
Reactive fabrics respond to changes in temperature
Full title of the project: Autonomously adapting and communicating modular textiles (European Research Council – European Commission)
This project contributes to a paradigm shift for smart soft materials into user-customizable textiles that autonomously interact with their environment and communicate through changes in color or shape. This will be done by coupling modular thermo- and photo-actuators to the traditional European fiber art of bobbin lace. The envisioned color-shape-communicative textile networks will include an on/off command of embedded functionalities by modifying an established concept – coiled yarn thermoactuators – to have different selective coatings on inner and outer surfaces of the coils.
Furthermore, it is intended to create unprecedented photoactuating coiled yarns, in which visible light turns on the functionality in a thread. The developed nonconformal coating techniques will also enable multifunctional threads, in which different parts of the thread can be commanded by different wavelengths of light. Two-dimensional multifunctional structures will be developed using these thermo- and photo-actuating threads as building blocks. The modularity of these building blocks, combined with the multiple thread system and three different braiding actions of bobbin lace, will enable a wide combinatorial parameter space for interactive network structures. We will demonstrate a textile that can, either upon illumination or thermal stimulus, change its color, its breathability/permeability, and activate a third function, such as colorimetric detection of a biomarker.
These textiles could be used in clothes or window shades, e.g. adapting their warming/cooling capacity based on the external temperature or solar illumination. Such functional textiles would indirectly decrease the need for heating/cooling many buildings and allow energy savings, thus providing an important economic opportunity. Co-creating further textile innovations with communities of bobbin lacemakers will ensure that the impact of the action goes beyond the conventional in terms of both technological and societal impact.
Pedro Silva is currently undergoing his second postdoctoral term, devoted to studying structural-functional and smart materials in Jaana Vapaavuori's group. His PhD studies explored the dynamics of filaments with innovative geometries by using computer simulations and spinning techniques to produce anisotropic micro elastomers. This project is based on successful preliminary work on textiles done by this team during the summer of 2021.
"In my current practice, I focus on creating sculptural woven fabrics integrated with smart-materials that can take a life of itself, respond to environmental stimuli, and play a functional role outside of the traditional textile realm. The research encompasses study of textile materials and experimentations with weaving techniques and structures that are most suitable for smart-materials to produce movement in the fabrics."
Photo description: Fabric woven with Honeycomb Weave Structure incorporated with nylon coils that respond to heat. The fabric folds as the nylon coils contract when exposed to heat. Material: Cotton and Nylon Coils
"My speciality is crafts and, more specifically, traditional Finnish craft techniques such as bobbin lace and tablet weaving. These crafts have been practised and improved across generations but they have not been separated from their ordinary purposes. We have made lace with bobbins, and belts or bands with tablets.
In my work, I combine these old and sophisticated crafts with new materials like coiled moving yarns. I have created some beautiful shapes that will, hopefully, find some new purposes in the future."
What don't we see even though we should – or could? Explore the exhibitions of Designs for a Cooler Planet 2023 to discover what Aalto students and researchers should be made visible.
Virtual Exhibition
Prototype exhibition of the 'Beyond e-Textiles' project
DIALOGUES – Creating New Textile Futures by AaltoTEXTILES
Accountable project leader: Prof. Jaana Vapaavuori ([email protected])
Project team:
Pedro Silva, Postdoctoral Researcher ([email protected])
Mithila Mohan, Project Employee ([email protected])
Maija Vaara, Project Employee ([email protected])
Project page on the Research Aalto portal: ModelCom
Group led by Professor Jaana Vapaavuori
Nordic network on smart light-conversion textiles beyond electric circuits
Awarded for research on the development of wearable healthcare sensors for autonomous health monitoring of the aging population
Welcome to the annual seminar of Aalto University Bioinnovation Center on 26 April, 2023 from 14:00 to 18:30 in the new location of Design Factory.
