Polymers used in textiles were found to be effective as actuator materials with large deformation. Particularly, the polymers with low dielectric constants used to be considered inactive to electric field were turned out to be efficient actuator materials. They were classified into three types; (1) polymer gels swollen with solvents, (2) plasticized polymers, (3) bulk polymers. From the viewpoint of easy-to-operate, polymer gel deformation with swelling and deswelling was excluded here. Swollen dielectric gels could be electrically deformed by solvent drag that induced asymmetric pressure distribution in the gels. Bending and crawling motions were observed in these materials. In the case of plasticized polymers, especially in the case of poly(vinyl chloride) with plasticizers, amoebalike reversible creep deformation was found, and the strain with over several hundreds of percent was detected. The material was stable and could have been operated for over two years. Bulk polymer film like poly(ethylene terephthalate) was found to oscillate under an application of dc electric field. Of course, the Maxwell force induced elastic contractile deformation can be expected in all cases. The variation of the electrically induced deformation in dielectric polymer materials were demonstrated to be vast and expected application fields are also spread widely, particularly as artificial muscles.

Adequate heat balance is critical to human performance in the heat. If heat balance cannot be maintained, the core temperature increases and body water dehydration leads to exhaustion and limit the performance. Clothing heat transfer properties, thermal insulation and water vapour resistance, modify heat exchange and may indirectly affect performance. Work in protective clothing quickly becomes exhaustive in impermeable garments, but can be easily completed with much less strain in permeable garments. Athletes, in particular in sports of endurance type, may produce more than 1000 W/m2 in an event lasting several hours. Physical examination of the heat balance of a runner reveals that a 20% lower water vapour resistance of a covering running suit allows the runner a longer run time or a higher speed per km before critical physiological strain is reached.

As we know, the coefficient of variation (CV) is one of the main quality indexes in the electronic testing for raw silk. Therefore, to study the classification of this index, it's nessary to get the distribution and other statistical information of this variable. In our previous study, we have gotten its distribution when the population is normal and the sampling is random. However, in the real testing, the CV value is obtained by computing a series of continuous silk size tested by the electronic machine. Due to the continuity of the silk filament, the series of raw silk size can be regarded as a continuous sample. The characteristics of the size from the continuous sample will be different from that of the random sample. This paper analyzes the results of the continuous sampling tests of the CV of the raw silk size, and deduces the distribution of CV of the raw silk size and its characteristics in the case of continuous sampling test, which provides a theoretical basis for the development of electronic testing standard.

Due to the multiplicity of the implementation, virtual garment simulation requires the capacity of dressing a sewn garment onto various posed human models in a real time. In this paper, a three-step method has been proposed to accelerate the dress-up procedure. The virtual garment is first dressed onto a human model in a standing pose to record a distance map between the garment shell and the human model. And then the distance map is employed to generate a coarse match when the pose of the human model has been changed. Finally, a fine-tuned 3D configuration without surface penetration is generated after a draping/relaxation scheme. Experimental results suggest this method is a useful and fast treatment for dressing sewn virtual garment on various posed human models.

This paper reports a study on the effect of phase change material (PCM) in design of cold protective clothing. Two clothing systems with the same structural design, one was smart clothing (clothing C) was treated with PCM, the other one was moisture management clothing (clothing B), were tested in a climate chamber where was controlled at -15°C. Eleven young male students volunteered to take part in wear trial experiments. The experimental results showed that the ear canal temperature when subjects wearing clothing treated with PCM was significantly higher that when subjects wearing moisture management clothing. The results also indicated that subjects wearing the clothing treated with PCM felt more comfortable than wearing the clothing untreated with PCM.

A two steps direct polymerization process was developed. The first step is to produce oligomer and then the oligomer of lactic acid is polymerized with binary catalyst tin chloride dihydrate/ p-toluenesulfonic acid. In this way, the direct synthesis of poly (lactic acid)(PLLA) without any organic solvents was investigated. The properties and structures of products were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), FT-IR spectra, and so on. The results show that comparatively high molecular weight polymer of lactic acid can be prepared by direct processing under appropriate technological conditions and that the melt polymerization of PLLA behaviors are as the second-order reaction mechanism.

A technique for spinning continuous filaments constructed of nano-scale fibers instead of non-woven obtained by general electrospinning was described in the paper. Polyamide 6/66 copolymer solution in 88% formic acid was used as the spinning material. The relationships between the fiber microstructures, filament mechanical properties and spinning parameters: spinneret tip to collector vertical distance (TD), rotation speed (RS) were investigated. Post-drawing was performed to the as-electrospun continuous filament. The research results revealed that increase of TD and RS could improve the fiber's uniaxial alignment and crystal structure, consequently the strength of the filament was enhanced. After being post-drawn, the stress and strain at break of the electrospun polyamide 6/66 copolymer filament was well improved.

The purpose of the present study is to determine the psycho-physiological effects of mechanical properties of compression hosieries (CHs) with different pressure levels and longitudinal gradient distribution profiles on the wearing comfort perception and blood circulation performance of the lower extremities in vivo. The mechanical properties of CHs (tensile, shearing, and bending) significantly influencing pressure level performances have been instrumentally estimated. Blood circulation as the main physiological parameter was investigated along the long and short saphenous veins and popliteal veins (PopV) of a total of 24 lower extremities of twelve female subjects by using Colour Doppler Ultrasound equipment in conjunction with four-hour subjective wear trials in a controlled environmental chamber. The study demonstrated that the mechanical properties of CHs fabric produced gradient variations along hosiery hose and among pressure levels. The skin pressures applied by CHs with four pressure levels significantly decreased the cross-sectional areas, and increased the mean flow velocities (VP mean) of the PopV by 15.70%, 29.80%, 31.30 % and 24.20%, respectively. Wearing comfort and acceptance degree significantly correlated with mechanical quality of CHs textiles. Light and mild compression by CHs provides the subjects more comfort sensory perception for long-term wearing period. The application of CHs textiles appears to be effective in preventing venous dilation and improving blood circulation in the lower extremities when wearers lack of physical activities. The fabrics with lower elasticity and higher bending rigidity properties produced higher pressure; while no significant differences in increasing blood circulation was found among mild, moderate, and strong pressure levels. An illustrative plot represents the integrative relationships between multiple materials mechanical properties, pressure performance, and resultant physiological responses and subjective comfort sensory perception, which provide a reference for product designer and physician in development and application of functional compression hosiery textiles.

In this study, a new approach to a UV-blocking treatment for cotton fabrics was developed by dyeing and finishing in one bath and two steps. In this approach, nano-TiO_2 was used as inorganic anti-ultraviolet agent, adhesives poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) PVP was used to improve the wet fastness. Ultraviolet Spectrometer was used for testing and analysis the anti-ultraviolet ability of the cotton fabric before and after the nano-TiO_2 finishing. The effect of the anti-ultraviolet performance and wet fastness of cotton fabrics with different content of nano-TiO_2 or adhesives were investigated. The results show that the nano-TiO_2 UV finishing can effectively improve the UV blocking ability of cotton fabric. With the increase usage of nano-TiO_2, the UV blocking ability of the treated cotton fabrics was increasing. Wet fastness was decreasing when there was no PVP adhesive while it was increasing when there was PVP adhesive and the ability of UV blocking was also increasing. But the content should be controlled in a moderate range; the ability of UV blocking would decrease if the content was exceeding the appropriate range. The electronic fabric strong-tensile machine was used for testing the tearing and breaking tenacity of the treated fabric and the computer-permeability tester was used for testing its air permeability. The results show that the treatment of nano-TiO_2 in this approach for UV-blocking treatment had little effect on the wear ability of the cotton fabric.

This paper deals with the development of a kind of water-in-oil-in-water (w/o/w) multiple-emulsification method to fabricate the SF drug-loading microspheres. The silk fibroin (SF) microspheres were prepared by using SF as vehicle and dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DSP) as drug model. The surface morphology was observed by SEM, the particle diameter and its distribution were observed with Laser particle sizer. The structure was studied by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared. The properties of drug release were assessed in vitro. The results showed the average size of microspheres varied from 6.53 μm to 68.60 μm. The structure of SF drug-loading microspheres had an obviously change compared with pure SF; and the change is the appearance of silk I and silk II structures; and its molecular conformation was β-sheet. The average drug-loading varied from 5.32 % to 9.01 %, and the average loading varied from 56.43 % to 99.07 %. The drug-loading and loading efficiency increased with the increase of SF concentration. The drug-loading and loading efficiency differed when the treated organic solvent differed, their order is: isopropanol ‹ acetone ‹ ethanol. Drug release of SF drug-loading microspheres: there was a slow release effect when the concentration of SF was 3% or 6%. Moreover, in the experimental condition, there was an obvious burst release of the drug when the SF concentration was 9 % or 12 % or when the treated solvent was ethanol.