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© 2021 The Textile Institute.The aim of this study was to design a knitted scaffold for myocardial tissue engineering applications. The textile structure of pile loop knit fabric (terry fabric) was selected as a three dimensional (3 D) scaffold. The candidate fabrics were knitted from textured polyethylene terephthalate (PET) yarns. Biocompatible porous structures were obtained and the mechanical properties of the fabrics were analyzed. The values of the stiffness (Young’s modulus) of the structures were observed to range from 124.09 to 167.01 kPa in the direction of wales, and from 40.16 to 85.28 kPa in the direction of courses at 20% strain, which can be stated not to be far from those reported for the human myocardium. Furthermore, the knit structures were observed to have a pore network mainly consisting of macropores of 100 − 400 µm that were well interconnected with micropores (

The goal of this research aimed to develop an accurate and reproducible textile-based optical fiber sensor for automotive seat occupancy. In our previous publication, the response of perfluorinated (PF) graded index (GI) polymer optical fibers (POFs) (62.5/750 and 62.5/490m) to bending and tensile loading was investigated. In this study, the response of the PF GI POFs to cyclic loading was investigated. The repeated loading and unloading the POF sensor would experience due to car vibrations and multiple uses by seat occupants, might cause fatigue failure to the POF sensor. The results showed that the Cytop-1 did not show any permanent deformation up to 500 cycles at strain rates 4 and 60mm/min at a gage length of 76.2mm in its elastic sensitive strain region. The Cytop-2 showed permanent deformation at 3.5% strain after 500 cycles at a gage length of 76.2mm. Thus, the Cytop-1 was found out to be more appropriate to be used as an optical fiber sensor for automotive seat occupancy sensing relative to the Cytop-2. In this study, a theoretical approach of the behavior of PF GI POF to cyclic loading was also provided.

The automotive industry is a promising area for innovations in the field of polymer optical fiber (POF) sensors as the industry currently uses the POF mostly for data transmissions. Since an optical fiber sensor has a high bandwidth, is small in size, is lightweight, and is immune to electromagnetic interference, it offers higher performance than that of its electrical-based counterparts such as the strain gage, elastomeric bladder, and resistive sensor systems. This enhanced performance makes an optical fiber sensor a suitable material for sensing seat occupancy for improved safety features in automobiles. The overall goal of this research is to develop a textile-based optical fiber sensor for automotive seat occupancy with high accuracy and reproducibility. In this study, the bending and tensile loading responses of POF were investigated, where two perfluorinated (PF) graded index (GI) POFs with two different core/cladding diameters, 62.5/750 and 62.5/490m, were used. The bending loss and the light attenuation against the applied axial stress were measured by a photon counting optical time-domain reflectometer. The critical bending diameters were analyzed: Cytop-1 (62.5/750m)38.10mm, Cytop-2 (62.5/490m)44.45mm. Furthermore, the elastic sensitive strain regions (x), where the stress-induced loss was recoverable, of the POFs at a 76.2mm gage length at a strain rate of 4mm/min were determined: Cytop-1: 3%x3.5%, Cytop-2: 3.1%x3.3%. The Cytop-1 was found to be less sensitive to bending and to have greater elastic sensitive strain range relative to the Cytop-2. In this study, a theoretical approach of the PF GI POF behavior to bending and axial tension was provided. The results demonstrated the feasibility of POFs as optical fiber sensors for automotive seat occupancy sensing.

In this study, the CIE whiteness (CIE WI) and whiteness tint (Tw) of optically whitened woven or knitted cellulosic fabrics (cotton, viscose, modal and tencel) irradiated with xenon arc light was investigated. The fabrics were whitened with four concentrations of eight different commercial optical whitening agents and these fabrics were irradiated with xenon arc light under specific conditions between 0-100 hours at 10-hour intervals. The reflectance of the optical whitened fabrics was measured by using spectrophotometry, while CIE WI and the Tw values were calculated using computer software. The results were investigated by statistical methods using ANOVA and regression curves in which CIE WI of optically whitened cellulosic fabrics were found to decrease seriously depending on irradiation time and Tw was also affected by xenon arc light., In this study, the CIE whiteness (CIE WI) and whiteness tint (Tw) of optically whitened woven or knitted cellulosic fabrics (cotton, viscose, modal and tencel) irradiated with xenon arc light was investigated. The fabrics were whitened with four concentrations of eight different commercial optical whitening agents and these fabrics were irradiated with xenon arc light under specific conditions between 0—100 hours at 10-hour intervals. The reflectance of the optical whitened fabrics was measured by using spectrophotometry, while CIE WI and the Tw values were calculated using computer software. The results were investigated by statistical methods using ANOVA and regression curves in which CIE WI of optically whitened cellulosic fabrics were found to decrease seriously depending on irradiation time and Tw was also affected by xenon arc light.