Interestingly, ultra-strong CNT fibers made of lightweight CNTs developed by Los Alamos scientist Yuntian Zhu are said to be tougher than diamonds and one-ten-thousandth of a human hair in diameter.
The company has named these ultrastrong CNT fibers as SuperThread. Researchers envision the use of these materials in airplanes, automobiles, and sports equipment. Other applications include bulletproof vests, electronic devices and artificial limbs.
Nowithstanding such progresses in technology, development of products using smart textile technology remains a highly expensive affair, demanding enormous R&D spending. This cost factor is a major barrier to ensuring their affordability and will continue to remain unaddressed until there is a mass acceptance of products using this technology.
"In addition to price concerns, issues related to the durability and performance of smart fabrics exist" says Srimathy. "The other notable challenge is the physical integration of fabrics with traditional rigid electronics, which requires new approaches to interface and interconnect designs."
Overall, this sophisticated and complicated technology has now gained entry in the market from research laboratories and is set to have a substantial impact on the textile industry. There is rapidly growing market for smart fabrics and in the future, wearables will be seen in biomedical devices, sportswear, communication systems, display technologies, military garments, and sensor networks.
Advances in High Tech Polymer Fibers and Smart Fabrics is part of the Technical Insights Subscription. It provides an overview of smart fabrics along with key drivers, challenges, advances and ongoing developments related to their various applications. In this research, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine smart fabrics used for medical, military, and personal protection applications. Interviews with the press are available.
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