Elastic fiber will help create "nerves" of robots and "smart" clothes

Scientists have created superelastic fibers that can return to their normal shape even after 500% deformation. Various microstructures can be inserted into these fibers, turning them into sensors. An article about this was published in the Advanced Materials journal.

In order to create these fibers, the scientists used thermal drawing technology, which is commonly used in the manufacture of optical fibers. First, preforms were made where the different fiber components were arranged in a specific sequence. Then they heated the workpiece and, when it melted, stretched it into a thread with a diameter of several hundred micrometers. Since the width of the fiber narrowed during stretching in length, the components were pressed against each other, and their positions relative to each other did not change. Thanks to this technology, hundreds of meters of new fiber can be produced in a relatively short time.

Previously, this technology was used to make solid fibers. Scientists were able to make flexible material with it thanks to elastomers – materials that return to their original shape after cooling.

Adding different additional structures will help you find different uses for the new material. For example, if electrodes can be added to these fibers, then when different electrodes touch each other under pressure from different sides, the resulting signal will provide information on how that pressure was applied. The same mechanism can be used to “give” robots a sense of pressure and touch, or to make a semblance of a keyboard directly on clothes, the manufacturers of which have already become interested in the inventio

n. Source: indicator.ru