Smart Textiles Based on Conductive Woven Structures

We live in a knowledge-based society, which is facing an increasing impact of science and technology on all aspects of life through products, services and consumer needs. The field of functional textiles is an interdisciplinary field that incorporates science, technology and design, and its future lies in the potential to combine different technologies. Functional textiles will serve to improve the quality of life by increasing the well-being of society and could lead to significant savings for health and budget. The uniqueness and challenge of technical textiles lies in the need to understand and apply the principles of textiles science and engineering to provide the right solutions for the growing and varied demands of their applications in areas such as protective clothing, automotive textiles, geotextiles, agricultural textiles, medical textiles, textiles used for construction, specialized textiles for defense and military applications, etc. Woven fabrics of copper and stainless steel wires, because of their structural order and ability to bend and conform to the most desirable forms, offers a great opportunity to develop a new generation of multifunctional and interactive textiles. The term “Smart Textiles” refers to a wide range of studies and products that extend the functionality and usefulness of common fabrics.