Design and Fabrication of Multifunctional E-Textiles by Upcycling Waste Cotton Fabrics through Carbonization
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3659588.pdf
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26.07 MB
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Author(s)
Wicaksono, Irmandy
Maheshwari, Aditi
Haddad, Don Derek
Paradiso, Joseph
Danielescu, Andreea
Date Issued
May 13, 2024
Journal
Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies
Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery
Citation
Wicaksono, Irmandy, Maheshwari, Aditi, Haddad, Don Derek, Paradiso, Joseph and Danielescu, Andreea. 2024. "Design and Fabrication of Multifunctional E-Textiles by Upcycling Waste Cotton Fabrics through Carbonization." Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, 8 (2).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The merging of electronic materials and textiles has triggered the proliferation of wearables and interactive surfaces in the ubiquitous computing era. However, this leads to e-textile waste that is difficult to recycle and decompose. Instead, we demonstrate an eco-design approach to upcycle waste cotton fabrics into functional textile elements through carbonization without the need for additional materials. We identify optimal parameters for the carbonization process and develop encapsulation techniques to improve the response, durability, and washability of the carbonized textiles. We then configure these e-textiles into various ‘design primitives’ including sensors, interconnects, and heating elements, and evaluate their electromechanical properties against commercially available e-textiles. Using these primitives, we demonstrate several applications, including a haptic-transfer fabric, a joint-sensing wearable, and an intelligent sailcloth. Finally, we highlight how the sensors can be composted, re-carbonized, and coated onto other fabrics, or repurposed into different sensors towards their end-of-life to promote a circular manufacturing process.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1145/3659588
