Clevertex - Grado Zero Espace Srl

Such textile materials and structures are becoming possible as the result of a successful marriage of
traditional textiles/clothing technology with material science, structural mechanics, sensor and actuator
technology, biology, electronics, etc.
Advances in all these technologies, coupled with advances in textile materials and structures results in
a conversion of traditional passive clothing into active textile systems that increase situational
awareness, communication, information, and more general overall performance [3].
2 Technologies
2.1 Conductive materials
2.1.1 Description
Since a long time the textile industry uses metallic yarn in weaving and knitting for aesthetic and
decorative purposes. The first known conductive fabric was Silk organza, which consisted of two types
of fibres: a plain silk thread running in the warp direction and the weft threads which are made of silk
thread wrapped in thin copper foil. This metal yarn is highly conductive; the silk core provides high
tensile strength and withstands high temperatures. This kind of cloth has been woven in India for the
last century utilising also silver, gold and other metals for ornaments and embroidery.
In the 1920s and 1930s metallic threads were also used for ecclesiastical and courtly robes to give
them to appearance of ‘golden clothes’. In the 1950s, Lurex, made from a thin strip of aluminium,
entered the market that could be varied with a number of conventional fibres to create metallic fabrics,
which were highly demanded at that time. The company Jakob Schlaepfer Co. AG in Switzerland
created fabrics composed of silk and steel threads for fashion and interior applications in the middle of
the 1990s [4, 5].
Another example for malleable and aesthetic fabrics is the ‘copper cloth’ designed by Reiko Sudo of
Nuno Corporation that can be formed into complex and subtle shapes. The designer was inspired by a
car industry process when a protective finish of stainless steel is finely sprayed underneath the car [5,
6].
However, let’s now turn away from aesthetic purpose of metallic threads in clothing and take a look at
the functional aspects that metallic thread can fulfil. Since few years research goes into manufacturing
conductive material for functional purposes in smart textiles. In textiles the mainly used metals are
aluminium, copper and stainless steel due to lower costs compared with the more expensive materials
like titanium, silver and gold [7].
5