Smart Textiles in Extreme Environments

The ability to impart “smart” functionality (i.e. stimuli responsiveness & sensing) coupled with the innate flexibility and comfort of textiles make smart textiles well suited to address the key challenges associated with developing the next generation clothing solutions to support emergency personnel (first responders, military, medics). It is not uncommon for these critical personnel to operate within extreme environmental conditions, ranging from dry arctic regions (-55°C) to hot / humid conditions. In this presentation, key material challenges and solutions will be shared that are being addressed within the US Air Force to enable next generation smart textiles in extreme conditions to better enable personnel to perform their duties by providing both physiological state awareness and mitigating detrimental states such as hypothermia and cognitive fatigue. Herein we discuss our efforts exploring the use of polymers with enhanced thermal properties coupled with printable liquid metal (EGaIn) inks to create conformable, flexible, and robust functional textile laminates suitable for applications such as active heating, electrophysiological sensing, and on-body data / power routing. These innovative material sets present new opportunities for additional textile-based wearable sensing, haptics, and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) applications that were previously unrealized due to intrinsic material limitations.