Polymer brushes are assemblies of macromolecules that are tethered by one end to a surface or interface. The advantage of polymer brushes over other surface modification methods (e.g. selfassembled monolayers) is their mechanical and chemical robustness, coupled with a high degree of synthetic flexibility towards the introduction of a variety of functional groups. In this paper, an overview of the representative synthesis method of polymer brushes is presented and their potential applications on smart surfaces, wettability and biocompatible surfaces are explored. Their potential applications in textile engineering are discussed.

This research deals with a non-invasive system that can be used to harvest waste mechanical energy and utilise this energy to suppress tremors. Hand tremors can emanate from medical conditions such as Parkinson disease and Arthritis. These tremors can be distinguished from other vibrations due to the associated frequency spectra. Mechanical signals are picked up by piezoelectric sensors before the generated voltage is filtered, converted and stored, or used directly to suppress the tremor. Two system level methods used for the suppression of tremor are discussed. As the device is proposed for glove structures, material flexibility is of key significance thus not hindering the bearer's motor functions. Conventional piezoelectric ceramic materials are recognised for their high piezoelectric coefficients in comparison to flexible piezoelectric polymer films. However, ceramic materials are rigid, heavy and offer limited opportunities for forming and shaping. Ceramic based piezoelectric materials in fine fibre form across a range of diameters (10-250μm) were used in this research. When integrated into composite structures the resulting materials retained all the qualities of bulk piezoelectric ceramics (electrical, mechanical, chemical) and mitigated the disadvantages of weight and brittleness. Various piezoelectric fibre composites and piezoelectric polymer film structures were compared, and the potential for their exploitation in glove based power harvesting and tremor suppression structures assessed.

This paper presents an automatic pattern grading technique by obtaining point grading rules automatically in order to avoid the manual input of cardinal point increments in the traditional GCAD system. Based on the principles of the pattern grading and pattern structures, patterns are divided into two categories: basic patterns and fashion patterns that are derived from basic patterns. Since basic patterns and fashion patterns are the specific form of 2D garment structure of human body, the grading rule of the former has relationship with that of the latter quantitatively, thus the fashion patterns can be graded automatically by applying the grade rule data of basic patterns. This paper depicts the computer class design scheme of the technique, including the construction of the pattern data structure, the acquirement of the grading rules of basic patterns by parameterization, the algorithms on the automatic transformation from the grading point increment of basic patterns to the one of fashion patterns and the application of grading rule of basic pattern in fashion patterns. The experiment results show that the technique is feasible.

Polyurethane foam is the material most widely used in bra cup production. From the main factors affecting the molding process of molded cup, this article analyzed the properties of polyurethane foam, and elaborated the principle of molding from the molecular structure of polyurethane foam. Then, a set of molding experiments has been done for three different parameters of materials. The results of the experiment analyzed the molding process parameters of the polyurethane foam, and summarized the main factors affecting the same. The work aims to develop a quantitative control method for bra cup modelling process.

This paper mainly investigates the retraction phenomenon of yak hair fiber when stretched. To study the retraction of yak hair fiber with different stretching ratio and the effect of setting reagent, the samples were stretched by a self-made device, including force and position sensor. The retraction curves of yak hair fiber stretched with different drawing ratio up to 90% and different process phases, including stretching, first setting and second setting, were analyzed respectively. The results showed that there is rapid retraction in the early stage when the gripping force was lost, and the retraction velocity of stretched yak hair increased gradually with the stretching ratio increasing. Meanwhile, it was also found that the setting process could result in the reduction of the retraction quantity of stretched fiber evidently. In addition, the stress decay curve of yak hair fiber stretched 30, 60 and 90%, according to different process phase, were investigated likewise. The results for the stress decay of yak hair fiber bundles showed that the stress decay curve exhibited an exponential diversification and the velocity of stress decay had same results with the length retraction of yak hair fiber stretched.

To compare the advantages and disadvantages of the measurement and girth fitting methods of human body, in this paper, 248 female students were selected as subjects. Frontal and profile images of human body were taken by digital camera. The width, the whole thickness, the front segment thickness and back segment thickness of cross-sections at chest, waist, abdomen and hip were measured by photogrammetric measurement. The curve consisted of two-elliptic arcs and BP (Back-Propagation) Neural Network were employed to model chest girth, waist girth, abdomen girth and hip girth based on the measured data, and the girths were obtained respectively. These two methods were compared in this paper.

Natural fragrant microcapsules with ethyl cellulose (EC) as a shell and lavender oil as a core were prepared by emulsify-solvent diffusion method. The characters, including particle size, encapsulation efficiency and oil loading capacity, were tested and analyzed by using orthogonal design. The processing parameters of the ratio of an oil phase to water phase, the ratio of core material to shell material, concentration of PVA and stirring speed were evaluated. The morphology and structure features of microcapsules were studied by SEM, FT-IR and etc. The results showed that the microcapsules were in sphere shape and most of the particle size was about 1

A cotton skin and a waterproof but permeable Gore-Tex skin were designed for the thermal manikin “Tore” to simulate different sweating styles (the wet cotton skin inside and Gore-Tex skin outside to simulate the sweating style of thermal manikin “Walter”, and Gore-Tex skin inside with wet cotton skin outside to simulate the sweating style of thermal manikins “Newton”). The evaporative resistances of two skin combinations with clothing ensembles were compared at different environmental conditions. In addition, the total evaporative resistance of clothing ensemble was calculated by both the heat loss method (option 1) and the mass loss method (option 2) according to ASTM F 2370. We found that the effect of different sweating mechanisms on the clothing evaporative resistance should be considered. The results showed that the total evaporative resistances calculated by option 2 were more accurate than values in option 1 under the isothermal condition. It was also found that differences of the total evaporative resistance between two skin combinations with clothing ensembles decreased with the increasing clothing ensemble layer. In a non-isothermal condition, the total evaporative resistance calculated by option 1 was more accurate than the value obtained in option 2, which was due to the lower ambient temperature and condensations between each adjacent layer.

Today there are varieties of comments prevailing among people who use Plastic and Paper bags for their shopping needs. A few people support Plastic bags with their own justifications and others support Paper bags. This is a hot topic of today and arguments are going up and down to deduce which one is better in terms of environmental impact, but some people abstain from this issue by choosing the other option of going with reusable bags. This exploratory study is attempted to infer the environmental concerns made by these bags. The two common grocery bags of today - Paper & Plastic bags are compared in this study. Two imperative measures - total amount of energy used by a bag to get it manufactured and the amount of pollutants emitted during the manufacturing phase of a bag - are chosen as data for Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). To arrive at a clear state of conclusion with respect to environmental impact made by these two bags, life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) study was accomplished. Evolvement of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study from the data available on this context is the crux of this study. The Eco-indicator 99, damage oriented method for LCIA in SIMAPRO 7.1 tool is used to assess the environmental impact made by these two grocery bags. The single score values calculated by the Eco-indicator 99 is considered as a directive to compare the environmental impact made by these and a detailed explanation of results is also dealt with in this paper. As far as the Life cycle energy analysis and amount of pollutants produced from these two bags are concerned, a plastic bag simply scores out a paper bag. The impact assessment results are also in line to support the plastic bags over paper bags. However, this conclusion has been drawn on the basis of the secondary data chosen for LCI and the results provided by the software which also has certain hypotheses and assumptions.

With an increasing ageing population, the incidence of pressure sores and incontinence is becoming an increasing burden on the health sector and requires new forms of intervention. Three dimensional knitted spacer fabrics can afford a range of properties making them ideal for use against the skin in a variety of medical applications. Fabrics can be engineered with the appropriate choice of yarns to meet a range of product specifications with each layer having a different characteristic. Spacer fabrics are washable and thus reusable making them viable alternatives to disposable products in the medical sector, at a time when there is great emphasis on sustainability and the environmental impact of textile products. Focusing on medical applications requiring bulk liquid absorption, a range of three dimensional weft knitted spacer fabrics were produced and evaluated for desirable properties such as high absorbency and liquid retention using standard test methods. The surface of the fabric was engineered to afford rapid liquid transfer. The level of liquid spreading on the surface of the fabric could be measured using conventional test methods, however to understand how the liquid spreads at different points through the thickness of the fabric a new test method was designed. Results of testing showed good repeatability and use of the prototype test method offering scope for further development.