The course has the aim to give an overview of technical textiles. Materials and technologies will be described with particular emphasis to the latest advances in different fields, such as transportation, construction, medical and industrial applications and many others.
A part of the course will be dedicated to the study of comfort of apparel, with particular attention to sportswear.

By completing this course, the student will be able to identify materials and technologies for specific technical applications of textiles.

A basic knowledge of man-made fibers.

Definition and scope of technical textiles. Milestones in the development of technical textiles. Market overview: worldwide consumption of technical textiles by product type and by application (3 hours).

Description and applications of technical textiles (27 hours)
• transport (automotive, aeronautic and marine applications)
• building and geotextiles (high-strength and high-modulus organic and inorganic fibres, carbon fibers, composite materials reinforced by superfibers).
• filtration (dust collection, solid-liquid separation, nanofibers for ultrafine filtration)
• agriculture and fishing
• packaging
• protective and safety products (high chemical resistant fibres, high combustion resistant fibres).
Sportswear using high function fibers (15 hours): energy balance across the human body in steady and transient conditions; heat and mass transfer through a garment assembly; Fanger model; Predicted Mean Vote (PMV); liquid and vapour management of textiles; necessary performance for sportswear, functions from the type of sports, sportswear for speed competition, design of textiles for sweat absorbency and rapid dry, textiles without heavy-touch feeling.
Fibers for health and medical applications (6 hours): fibers used, non-implantable materials, implantable materials, healthcare and hygiene products, antimicrobial treatments.
Advanced composite materials and their applications (3 hours): resin composite materials, metal composite materials, ceramic composite materials.
Adaptive textiles (3 hours): adaptive textiles for thermoregulation, shape memory fibers, conductive polymers.
Finishing and coating of technical textiles (3 hours).

Two visits are foreseen: to a laboratory specialised in flame retardancy tests and to a laboratory specialised in comfort assessment of clothing.

Handbook of technical textiles, edited by A.R.Horrocks and S.C. Anand, Woodhead publishing, 2007
Mc Quaid, Extreme textiles, Designing for high performance, Princeton Architectural Press, 2005
Textile in sports, Woodhead publishing, edited by Shishoo, Woodhead publishing, 2005

Written examination.