Parameterized shape adaptive materials for sportswear
International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology
ISSN: 0955-6222
Article publication date: 19 June 2023
Issue publication date: 5 September 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Conventional sportswear design does not take into account body size changes that many individuals experience (e.g. through pregnancy, puberty, menstruation, etc.). This paper aims to detail both the construction of a novel wearable shape-adaptive composite and a new meso-scale material design method, which enables the optimal creation of these structures.
Design/methodology/approach
This work reports the development of a predictive computational model and a corresponding design tool, including results of a tensile testing protocol to validate their outputs. A mathematical model was developed to explore the geometric parameter space of a bi-stable composite system, which then feeds into an optimization design tool.
Findings
The authors found that it is possible to fabricate shape-adaptive composites via 3D printing bi-stable structures, and adhering them to a base textile. Experimental mechanical tensile testing showed good agreement with the predictive model in mid-range unit cell amplitude designs. To illustrate how the optimization design tool works this paper details two design examples, one for expected shape change during pregnancy and one for targeted compression for high performance swimwear. The optimized design parameters are shown to replicate the target parameters, however there is potential for further improvement with a lower stiffness base textile.
Originality/value
Although there is a wealth of research on multi-stable mechanisms, there is a dearth of studies that apply these structures in the wearable composite space. Additionally, there is a need for design methods which leverage the structurally-programmable capabilities of multi-stable structures to create optimized, high-performance functional composites.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. 1122374 as well as funding from the Adidas Future Team. The authors would like to thank Heather Shields at Adidas for assistance in tensile testing the standalone and composite samples.
Citation
Beem, J., Hannah, I. and Hosoi, A.E. (2023), "Parameterized shape adaptive materials for sportswear", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 685-697. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCST-01-2023-0007
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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