New programmable smart fabric responds to temperature and electricity

April 24, 2023 Unique smart fabric is the first to change both colour and shape in response to two different stimuli A new smart material developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. The unique design paves the way for a wide variety of potential applications, including clothing that warms up while you walk from the car to the office in winter and vehicle bumpers that return to their original shape after a collision. Inexpensively made with polymer nano-composite fibres from recycled plastic, the programmable fabric can change its colour and shape when stimuli are applied. "As a wearable material alone, it has almost infinite potential in AI, robotics and virtual reality games and experiences," said Dr. Milad Kamkar , a chemical engineering professor at Waterloo. "Imagine feeling warmth or a physical trigger eliciting a more in-depth adventure in the virtual world." The novel fabric design is a product of the happy union of soft and hard materials, featuring a combination of highly engineered polymer composites and stainless steel in a woven structure. Researchers created a device similar to a traditional loom to weave the smart fabric. The resulting process is extremely versatile, enabling design freedom and macro-scale control of the fabric's properties.