Specialty Fabrics Review October 2019 - 62

FOCUS

WORLD VIEWS

Magdalena Wierzbicka, Piet Zwart Institute,
The Netherlands, was awarded first prize in the
Material Innovations category. Her entry was an
exploration of different textiles combined with
porcelain, inspired by the Thuringian porcelain
lace of the late nineteenth century.

the shape of the textile, its curved edges and
weave texture. When installed, the gentle
sound of the ceramic tinkling can be heard,
with a unique quality of light.
Throughout the presentations at
Techtextil, academic researchers showcased
their most recent projects, responding to
real industry problems and always realizing
potential environmental impacts. Practical
considerations, rather than creating barriers,
merely served to ground these projects and
make their innovations all the more plausible
to be commercialized in the future.
ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
With all the attention now being given to
creating digital microfactories, researchers
at the RWTH Aachen University Institute
of Textile Technology (ITA) are looking at
ways of manufacturing in extraterrestrial
environments-using locally sourced raw
materials. The venture makes economic as well
as environmental sense, because transporting
62 REVIEW OCTOBER 2019

even a single kilogram of material by rocket or
space shuttle costs an estimated €10,000. Thilo
Becker, Alexander Lüking and the team at ITA
are proposing that the solution is to work with
what is already there-moonstone-turning it
into a fiber and then into cloth.
There are many challenges, not least the
lack of gas, oil or power outlets on the moon.
On Earth, working with volcanic basalt can
be used as a close approximation. The rock
is broken into finger-size pieces and poured
through a funnel into a high-performance
furnace, where it is melted at temperatures of
more than 1,100 degrees (C). It's then merged
through a platinum nozzle to be spun into
very fine flexible fibers.
Environmental issues are also a strong
focus of research at the Swedish School
of Textiles in the University of Boras.
Researchers have been working to address
waste forestry products for a number of years,
and Coordinator Lena-Marie Jensen was
showing the latest initiatives at TechTextil.
Longevity of product is a recurring question
around the use of paper in garments and
interiors, so the team's new development is
water-resistant. For interiors, the paper can
be used for screens, sofas and chairs; it can
also be used in garments with good drape and
handle. Surprisingly, however, recycling is an
issue because of the waterproofing, and there
are concerns about the long-term financial
viability of such a facility that must be linked
to regular and high-quantity supply.
The European universities that I spoke
with at Techtextil estimate that 70-90 percent
of their research projects are industry-related.
There is a mutual commitment between
research and industry, and the benefits to
each are increasingly evident. An important
outcome of this is the positioning of academic
research right from the outset to plan for scale
to production and commercialization. The
phrase "it's academic" is starting to have new
meaning for the textiles industry.
Marie O'Mahony is an industry consultant, author and
academic, and visiting professor at the Royal College
of Art (RCA), London. She is the author of several
books on advanced and smart textiles published by
Thames and Hudson. www.linkedin.com/in/marie-omahony-94776836

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Specialty Fabrics Review October 2019

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