Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi. I'm working with a material science prof, specifically on smart clothings.
Yes, there are some interesting topics like photovoitaic fibers, conductive fibers, & conductive inks, but could anyone help me get a direction on which physical phenomenon, or triage problem that I could work on?
If you can help me find which journals & scientific articles to start with, or articles to start with, it would be very appreciative.
Thanks.

Hi mscho527,

Welcome to the forum. You've chosen a very interesting topic. I'm certainly no expert in this area but perhaps some other contributors to this forum can add some more specific advice.

You've already recognized the need to find a more specific aspect of this topic to work on. My suggestion is to identify specific areas that are most interesting to you. Are you interested in how smart textiles are designed and constructed (for example, inclusion of electrical conductors in textiles)?
Or are you interested in particular effects of the materials and clothing (for example, how smart clothing might make the wearer more comfortable)?

It should be helpful to do some background research. I'm not familiar enough with this field to recommend any scientific journals. An internet search of “smart textile reference” returned several handbooks and other references works. A couple of links are listed below.

http://www.springerreference.com/docs/a ... e/311.html

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9781845693794

When you have identified some specific areas of interest, you could work out a project question to use as the basis of your project. Some guidance on developing your question can be found here:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... tion.shtml

I hope this helps. Please post again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

Hi mscho527,

If you are looking for scientific articles, here's someplace you could start:

https://engineering.purdue.edu/Faborato ... tions.html

In general that lab's research focuses on wearable fabrics with embedded "sensing" (e.g. the material can sense how much it's been stretched or pushed on, kind of like human skin) and embedded "actuation" (there are "muscle fibers" built in to the fabric that allow it to contract). It's a pretty cool area of research.

If you're looking for a project, I would keep in mind your budget and what materials/resources you have access to through the materials science professor. Some of the materials that can go into these fabrics can get kind of expensive.

Hope that helps.

-Ben