Microscopic chain-mail could help create 'smart clothing'
How about having a handbag that alerts you if you are just about to forget your media player? What if the sleeves of your shirt turn into a digital display? Well, I am talking about smart clothing. US researchers have developed a microscopic chain mail made from miniscule metal links.
This chain-mail could be possibly employed to produce textiles with embedded sensors and other integrated electronics. The chain mail has been developed by placing a patterned layer of light-sensitive material to form a mould of interlinking gaps and then filling those gaps with copper metal. The process is repeated time and again to make the finished links.
The new fabric has the strength equal to that of nylon and can be stretched to get a one-third increase in its length. Chang Liu at the University of Illinois said:
A lot of work into flexible sensors uses substrates that only bend in one axis. We want to be able to have things fully flexible in three dimensions.
He further said that the emerging fabricating techniques could allow Microchip-scale electronic components to be entrenched directly into the links of the chain-mail in the near future.
via: newscientist
