Smart fabrics can sense different environmental conditions and intelligent textiles or e-textiles can not only sense environmental changes, but can automatically respond to their surroundings or stimuli, such as thermal, chemical, or mechanical changes, as well.
Since its invention in the 1960s by the American firm DuPont, the synthetic fibre Lycra, or Spandex as it is known in America, is one of the most commonly used smart fabric and has been widely utilised, due to its exceptional elasticity, in the sport and fashion market. Lycra modernised traditional fabrics, when combined with natural fibres, enabling the creation of clothing, swimwear, underwear, hosiery, compressed surgical garments, and interior furnishings that were elastic, functional, and comfortable to wear.
The microporous Gore-Tex membrane, designed by Wilbert and Robert Gore in the late 1970s, and engineered by a similar technique to Teflon, was originally designed to enable the body to breath while being completely wind and waterproof, and thus was widely used for rainproof wear. Products for astronauts and practical clothing for use in extremes of cold temperatures were also developed, and more recently Gore-Tex fabrics have been used for medical implant products and in the prevention of the spread of bacteria on medical garments in hospitals.
Electronic or smart textiles, such as heat and light sensitive products, were initially developed as intelligent or smart clothing for the sportswear market, and created fabrics for products that were designed to embed computing or digital components. Advances in e-textiles, and emerging smart-textile electronics (see Chapter 15.4.2, for more information) and the microencapsulation technique enable thermal responsive clothing products, such as swimwear and evening wear to react to heat and change colour.
Thermal responsive products in the interior markets became popular and interior textiles were developed that adapt to the temperature of the environment or exposure to sunlight and change colour accordingly.
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