The focus of this paper is on the development of textile-based wearable electronics that can be integrated into military protective clothing. A materials and manufacturing survey was conducted to determine the best performing and most durable materials to withstand the rigors of textile manufacturing and potential military use. Narrow woven technology was selected as one of the most promising textile manufacturing methods. A working wearable narrow fabric version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB), as well as a radiating conductor, were successfully developed and fabricated. A circular knit T-shirt with an integrated spiral bus was also developed. Military products developed include components of a personal area network providing data and power transport, and a body-borne antenna integrated into a load-bearing vest.
Droplets of 1,6–di (N-carbazolyl)-2,4 hexadiyne (DCHD) polydiacetylene were prepared by room temperature evaporation of dilute (0.01 wt. %) solution of the monomer in chloroform onto amorphous carbon-coated mica substrates. High Resolution Electron Microscopy (HREM) and Selected Area Electron Diffraction (SAED) revealed small crystallographically textured droplets (∼1 μm diameter) with cracks parallel to the [001] chain direction. The droplet geometry allowed us to investigate the organization of the polymer near surfaces. It was found that the curvature of the droplet edge caused a local bending of the polymer crystal lattice. Direct imaging of the molecular structure near the droplet surface revealed that the mechanism of lattice bending was by the formation of edge dislocations. Dislocations were etched in some droplets to gain information about perturbations in structure and reactivity near the core.
The ability to integrate electrical functionality into textile garments is becoming increasingly desired for consumer devices, military applications and for companies with large distributed workforces. This technology has the potential to facilitate the transfer of information and increase efficiency in many arenas. One of the major hurdles that has hindered the wedding of electronics and clothing has been the need to wash the resulting garment. This paper describes a study of the long term effects of washing and dry-cleaning electrotextile elements.
The strain fields around chain-end edge dislocations in
poly(diacetylene) crystals were
analyzed by high resolution electron microscopy (HREM).
Experimental measurements of the tilt of the
polymer chain axis as a function of azimuthal angle φ at a constant
radius r from the dislocation core
were compared to theoretical predictions. The shear deformation
was localized in parabolic regions parallel
to the Burger's vector b near the chain end. For an
edge dislocation in the poly(diacetylene)
1,6-di(N-carbazolyl)-2,4-hexadiyne (DCHD) with a Burger's vector of b
= 3a/2 [100] (2.4 nm), we found a tilt
distortion of ±6° at 12 nm from the core. A parameter
W was introduced to describe the anisotropy of
the compliance matrix with respect to the chain direction. A
parameter of W = 3.5 was needed to fit the
measured tilt deformation with anisotropic linear elastic dislocation
theory. We also found that the theory
of distortions near dislocations in columnar liquid crystals could
closely predict our experimental
observations. A value of 0.8 nm (the interchain spacing) for the
characteristic length, λ3, was the best fit
for the columnar liquid crystal solution. This analysis reveals
similarities between the elasticity of
anisotropic crystals and liquid crystals.
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