Table Of ContentINTELLIGENT TEXTILES FOR PERSONAL
PROTECTION AND SAFETY
NATO Security through Science Series
This Series presents the results of scientific meetings supported under the NATO Programme for
Security through Science (STS).
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Defence Against Terrorism or Countering Other Threats to Security. The types of meeting
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should not necessarily be regarded as reflecting NATO views or policy.
Advanced Study Institutes (ASI) are high-level tutorial courses to convey the latest
developments in a subject to an advanced-level audience
Advanced Research Workshops (ARW) are expert meetings where an intense but informal
exchange of views at the frontiers of a subject aims at identifying directions for future action
Following a transformation of the programme in 2004 the Series has been re-named and re-
organised. Recent volumes on topics not related to security, which result from meetings
supported under the programme earlier, may be found in the NATO Science Series.
The Series is published by IOS Press, Amsterdam, and Springer Science and Business Media,
Dordrecht, in conjunction with the NATO Public Diplomacy Division.
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B. Physics and Biophysics Springer Science and Business Media
C. Environmental Security Springer Science and Business Media
D. Information and Communication Security IOS Press
E. Human and Societal Dynamics IOS Press
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Sub-Series D: Information and Communication Security – Vol. 3 ISSN: 1574-5589
Intelligent Textiles for Personal
Protection and Safety
Edited by
Sundaresan Jayaraman
Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Paul Kiekens
Ghent University, Belgium
and
Ana Marija Grancaric
University of Zagreb, Croatia
Amsterdam • Berlin • Oxford • Tokyo • Washington, DC
Published in cooperation with NATO Public Diplomacy Division
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Intelligent Textiles for Personal
Protection and Safety
Zadar, Croatia
7–10 September 2005
© 2006 IOS Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the publisher.
ISBN 1-58603-599-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2006922867
Publisher
IOS Press
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Netherlands
fax: +31 20 687 0019
e-mail:
Intelligent Textiles for Personal Protection and Safety v
S. Jayaraman et al. (Eds.)
IOS Press, 2006
© 2006 IOS Press. All rights reserved.
Preface
Terrorism has become an integral part of everyday life in recent years and has dramati-
cally affected the quality of life for individuals in society. Technology is the key to
combating terrorism and protecting ordinary citizens, first responders and soldiers,
among others, from danger. The area of intelligent or smart textiles is a rather new but
rapidly emerging discipline with a high potential for payoff in the fight against terror-
ism.
This Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) was organized to fill the critical need
to bring together the leading experts in the field to make an in-depth assessment of ex-
isting knowledge in the area of intelligent (smart) textiles for personal protection and
safety, and to identify directions for future research. An important outcome or “deliver-
able” of the Workshop has been the “Research Roadmap” for the future in keeping
with NATO’s goals for the ARW program. This first-of-its-kind ARW in this field also
provided a forum for young scientists and engineers to interact closely with the invited
experts and participate in developing the Research Roadmap that is expected to ad-
vance this emerging discipline through collaborative research between NATO and
Partner countries.
This book contains the papers presented by the Invited Speakers at the ARW. Each
chapter in the book provides an in-depth assessment of one particular facet of this
emerging discipline. The chapters build on each other further reflecting the integrated
and interdisciplinary theme underlying the ARW.
As Co-Directors, we would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to
all who contributed to the success of the ARW: to NATO for the generous grant; to the
fellow members of the Organizing Committee, viz., Professor Danilo De Rossi of
the University of Pisa, Italy, Professor Lieva Van Langenhove of Ghent University,
Belgium, and Ms. Sungmee Park of the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA;
to Dr. Carla Hertleer of Ghent University, Belgium, for her help during the ARW
planning stage; to Ms. Judith Kenis, Ghent University, Belgium, for coordinating the
logistics that resulted in a productive and enjoyable ARW; to the Invited Speakers,
Participants and Discussion Leaders for providing the stimulating intellectual content
of the ARW; again to Ms. Sungmee Park for her extensive help in the preparation of
this book for publication; and finally, to the IOS Press staff for their assistance in the
timely production of the book.
Sundaresan Jayaraman
Paul Kiekens
Ana Marija Grancaric
December 2005
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vii
Contents
Preface v
Sundaresan Jayaraman, Paul Kiekens and Ana Marija Grancaric
Advanced Research Workshop on Intelligent Textiles for Personal Protection
and Safety 1
Paul Kiekens
Intelligent Textiles for Personal Protection and Safety: The Emerging Discipline 5
Sungmee Park and Sundaresan Jayaraman
The Wearable Motherboard: The New Class of Adaptive and Responsive
Textile Structures 21
Sungmee Park and Sundaresan Jayaraman
New Textile Materials for Environmental Protection 41
Izabella Krucińska, Eulalia Klata and Michał Chrzanowski
Wearable Mechanosensing and Emerging Technologies in Fabric-Based
Actuation 5
Danilo De Rossi, Federico Carpi, Federico Lorussi, E. Pasquale Scilingo
and Alessandro Tognetti
Flexible Displays on Textiles for Personal Protection 65
Vladan Koncar and François Boussu
Conductivity Based Sensors for Protection and Healthcare 89
Lieva Van Langenhove and Carla Hertleer
Optical Chemical Sensors and Personal Protection 107
Aleksandra Lobnik
Ergonomics of Protective Clothing; Heat Strain and Fit 133
Hein A.M. Daanen, Peter A. Reffeltrath and Claudy L. Koerhuis
Author Index 147
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Intelligent Textiles for Personal Protection and Safety 1
S. Jayaraman et al. (Eds.)
IOS Press, 2006
© 2006 IOS Press. All rights reserved.
Advanced Research Workshop on
Intelligent Textiles for
Personal Protection and Safety
Paul KIEKENS
Ghent University, Belgium
Together with my co-directors Prof. Ana Marija Grancaric from the University of Zagreb and
Prof. Sundaresan Jayaraman from Georgia Institute of Technology I would like to welcome
you at this unique location for attending the Advanced Research Workshop that is organized
with the support of NATO.
The WTC attacks in New York on 11 September 2001; the train explosions in Madrid on 11
March 2004, the massacre at the public transport in London on 7 July 2005; these major
terrorist assaults are unfortunately engraved in our memories and emphasize the importance
and necessity of the fight against terrorism. Thousands of people lost their lives during these
assaults, among which mainly civilians but also a great number of fire fighters. Furthermore
these attacks put the work of people as fire fighters and first responders in the picture and
intensify the extreme conditions under which these people are working.
Governments need to deal with finding political solutions to prevent more terrorist
attacks, while scientists can contribute to the defence from a technological point of view.
Applying intelligent textiles in this battle is an obvious choice. Clothing is a person’s second
skin, covering great parts of our body on the one side and having a large surface area in
contact with the environment on the other hand. Therefore clothing is most suitable as
interface between environment and human body, resulting in the ideal tool to enhance
personal protection and provide occupational safety. This idea as such of course is not new;
clothing always had a protecting function among other things. All clothing is protective to
some extent, while the degree of protection against specific hazards varies according to the
area of application. Personal protective equipment (PPE) includes more than just the
garments; face masks, gloves, shoes, etc. all take part of the equipment. The nature of the
workplace hazards resulted in grouping PPE in categories such as chemical, thermal,
mechanical, nuclear and biological. Each category uses its own range of high performance
materials with very specific superb properties. Over the years, growing concern regarding
health and safety of workers in various sectors of the industry, has led to intensive research
and development in the area of personal protective equipment. The quality of PPE has
improved as a result of the introduction of specialty fibres, on-going research on polymers,
coatings and fabrication techniques. Some major breakthroughs will be mentioned. During
2 P. Kiekens / Advanced Research Workshop on Intelligent Textiles for Personal Protection and Safety
the nineteen sixties and seventies, Dupont scientists synthesized the aramid fibres Nomex
and Kevlar which are known for their excellent thermal resistance. Similar fibres were
developed by other companies. Apart from that, many of these fibres have properties such as
high tensile strength, high chemical resistance, good structural rigidity, high cut resistance,
low thermal shrinkage, excellent dimensional stability,…making them most suitable for use
in protective clothing. Since Kevlar has a higher strength than Nomex, Nomex III was
developed by blending Nomex with 5% Kevlar to prevent bursting in flame or intense heat.
The polyamide-imide fibre Kermel from Rhodia Performance Fibres (F) is lightweight, has a
soft handling and a high wicking performance to encourage the outward migration of
perspiration away from the body. The Japanese company Toyobo introduced the PBO fibre
ZYLON. PBO stands for poly(p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole), a fibre having a tensile
modulus that is greater than carbon, HPPE, or aramid fibre types. Additionally the fibre has a
great resistance to heat. As for fabrication techniques, only the 3D weaving process will be
mentioned here. Despite its existence since the seventies, it has not been widely used due to
the high costs associated with it. In 3D weaving, yarns are not only woven in x and y
directions but also in z direction, yielding a three dimensional fabric structure. The way of
combining different layers of fabric results in benefits such as a weight reduction of the
composite structure, greater impact resistance, no delamination ... Apart from a continuous
improvement of material properties and manufacturing processes, new developments are
more situated in the area of ergonomics. A better fitting of the clothing considerably
contributes to an enhanced performance. One way to do this is to decrease the weight of the
apparel by increasing the amount of air trapped within the clothing, using 3D structures
instead of 2D. Airlock by Gore tex adopted this concept by integrating air cushions into the
fabric. The introduction of adaptive materials such as phase change materials initiated the use
of passive smart materials. When integrated at the appropriate places of the garment, they
can increase the thermal comfort or reduce the pain alarm time for someone exposed to high
temperatures. The properties of the textile materials, the way these materials are combined
and assembled resulted in continuously improved garments. However, despite their superior
properties, these materials remain mainly passive components. The next level protective
clothing can elevate to be the one of an active clothing system. This brings us to the concept
of smart clothing. Integrating sensors, actuators, power supplies and microsystems into
clothing creates a whole new approach of looking at the role of clothing in meeting human
needs. Wearable technology can be achieved by combining engineering and clothing design.
Textiles provide “large” surface areas and can serve as a viable platform for “hosting” the
large numbers of sensors and processors required for such applications. Since clothing is the
most "universal of interfaces", intelligent or smart textiles will serve as the platform for
achieving the goals of personal protection and security for individuals against various forms
of terrorism. The area of smart textiles is a rather new but rapidly emerging discipline with a
high potential for payoff in the fight against terrorism. However the development of
intelligent textile systems requires an intensive multidisciplinary interaction, joining the
expertise of material scientists, physicians, engineers, etc. Research is being carried out in
this area in several parts of the world. Unfortunately, so far there is no concerted effort to
drive the research in the direction of fighting terrorism using this emerging technology.
Therefore, there is a need to bring together leading experts in this field to make critical
