Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
10
B
iomimetic Textile
s
Michael S. Ellison
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Clemson University,
Clemson, SC 29634-0971, USA
Prospectus
In a sense, the archetype of bioinspiration for
materials design and use is textiles. The field of
biomimesis has spawned many new materials and
continues to be a fruitful field of investigation. This
chapter presents the current state of bioinspiration
in textiles, how this has resulted in improved
fibrous materials, how it may inform our continued
progress. Because I have found many preconceived
notions about the field that need addressing before
the application of biomimetics to textiles can be
truly appreciated, I begin with an introduction
to textiles. Next, naturally enough, the discipline
of biomimesis is introduced and then fleshed out
in terms of its textile engineering importance.
Following this, some details on fiber and textile
science and engineering are discussed and biological
concepts germane to our topic are presented. In the
last step in this journey, the marriage of biomimesis
and textiles is performed and some consequences
revealed. Finally, I offer some prognostications on
the topic.
10.1 TEXTILES
Clothing is quintessentially human. Although
there are, of course, reports of other species
using natural materials for shelter, there are no
reports, for example, of monkeys wearing cloth-
ing of their own making, the organ-grinder's
friend notwithstanding. It is a common belief
that humans used animal skins and even vegeta-
tion (e.g., fig leaves) as coverings for protection
from the elements. Body covering may also have
been concocted for purposes such as decoration
or prestige. Whatever their inception, textiles
and clothing have been present in human his-
tory since the earliest records and reflect both
the raw materials available to people and the
technologies that they developed.
Textiles
, which here includes the fibers that are
then made into yarn and thence into fabrics (as
we shall see, there are many intermediate and
transitional steps in the general process), appar-
ently appeared in the Middle East during the
late Stone Age. In fact, humans' use of biological
fibers is a venerable art: We have been spinning
natural fibers into yarns and forming yarns into
fabrics for over 8,000 years
[1]
.
Keywords
Biomimetic, Cellulose, Clothing, Cotton, Fabric,
Fiber, Hagfish slime threads, Inspiration, Mussel bys-
sus, Natural fiber, Polypeptide, Resilience, Spider
silk, Strength, Sustainable, Technical textiles, Textiles,
Toughness, Wool, Yarn.
