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New US institute to hasten advances in fibres, fabrics

01 Apr '16
6 min read


“What makes this point in time different? The answer is research,” Fink said. Objects that serve many complex functions are always made of multiple materials, whereas single-material objects, such as a drinking glass, usually have just a single, simple function. But now, new technology — some of it developed in Fink's own laboratory — is changing all that, making it possible to integrate many materials and complex functional structures into a fabric's very fibres, and to create fibre-based devices and functional fabric systems.

The semiconductor industry has shown how to combine millions of transistors into an integrated circuit that functions as a system; as described by “Moore's law,” the number of devices and functions has doubled in computer chips every couple of years. Fink said the team expects that the number of functions in a fibre will grow with similar speed, paving the way for highly functional fabrics.

The challenge now is to execute this vision, Fink said. While many textile and apparel companies and universities have figured out pieces of this puzzle, no single one has figured it all out.

“It turns out there is no company or university in the world that knows how to do all of this,” Fink said. “Instead of creating a single brick-and-mortar center, we set out to assemble and organize companies and universities that have manufacturing and 'making' capabilities into a network — a 'distributed foundry' capable of addressing the manufacturing challenges. To date, 72 manufacturing entities have signed up to be part of our network.”

“With a capable manufacturing network in place,” Fink said, “the question becomes: How do we encourage and foster product innovation in this new area?” The answer, he says, lies at the core of AFFOA's activities: Innovators across the country will be invited to execute “advanced fabric” products on prototyping and pilot scales. Moreover, the center will link these innovators with funding from large companies and venture capital investors, to execute their ideas through the manufacturing stage. The center will thus lower the barrier to innovation and unleash product creativity in this new domain, he says.

The federal selection process for the new institute was administered by the US Department of Defense's Manufacturing Technology Programme and the US Army's Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center and Contracting Command in New Jersey. Retired Gen. Paul J. Kern will serve as chairman of the AFFOA Institute.

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