Development of a textile sensibility evaluation system

As the demand in the market for a product with a high sensibility has dramatically increased, research has been conducted in designing products for better sensibility; however, most studies have employed a paper-and-pencil (P&P) questionnaire in administering a sensibility evaluation, causing a lack of efficiency and systematicity in sensibility research. The present study developed a computerized textile sensibility evaluation system which can be used to efficiently evaluate the visual, tactile, visual-tactile, and auditory sensibilities of textiles and examined its effectiveness in visual sensibility evaluation compared with the traditional P&P evaluation method. The computerized evaluation system has capabilities of managing information of textile properties, designing a sensibility evaluation experiment, administering a sensibility evaluation, and managing evaluation data for post hoc analysis. The test-retest protocol was administered with a within-subject design for 15 females in their 20 s and 30 s to examine the difference in visual sensibility evaluation between the P&P method and the computer-based method. A high correlation (r=.88～.97) was found in sensibility evaluation between the two methods and the computer-based system showed a higher repeatability within a rater in repeated evaluation (a decrease of 25 % in intra-rater SD), which indicates the computer-based method is an effective alternative to the P&P method in visual sensibility evaluation. The findings of the present study support use of a computerized system for practitioners to efficiently identify preferred characteristics of textiles for the design of sensible clothing.     

Flame retarding PC/ABS resins having superior thermomechanical properties

Triphenyl phosphate (TPP) is well known to be one of the most effective flame retardants for acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS) and its blending resins, such as polycarbonate (PC)/ABS, among various phosphorous-based compounds. However, TPP can also play a role as a plasticizer, which decreases the mechanical properties of PC/ABS resins at high temperature. Furthermore considerable amount of TPP has to be evaporated during molding process due on its much lower evaporation temperature. To overcome these shortcomings, we tried to immobilize TPP by grafting on butadiene moiety of ABS. FT-IR analysis of prepared TPP-grafted ABS (ABS-g-TPP) comparing with TPP, ABS and their blend confirmed that chemical reactions happened between TPP and ABS resins and it was attributed to the graft reaction of TPP onto butadiene moieties. Prepared ABS-g-TPP resins were blended with PC at various compositions to be prepared as testing specimens by injection molding. The physical characteristics such as mechanical properties, thermal stability, and flame retarding properties of the PC/ABS-TPP graft copolymer were analyzed through Vicat softening temperature, IZOD impact strength, transmission electron microscope, and UL94 flame retardation tests. Results showed that PC/ABS-g-TPP resin takes better thermomechanical properties than the existing PC/ABS resins at relatively low additional TPP amounts.     

Application of the real fabric frictional speeds to the fabric sound analysis using water repellent fabrics

This study aims to determine fabric frictional speeds between the arm and the trunk when people walk (1.3 m/s), jog (2.5 m/s) and run (4.5 m/s), and to apply the measured speeds to setting a sound generator for each motion to obtain fabric rustling sounds. By analyzing body motions captured by the Falcon motion analysis system and a camcorder, it was identified that the friction between the arm and trunk occurred within 10° of shoulder angle along the center line of the trunk in the sagittal plane and the maximum frictional speed occurred at the elbow within the shoulder friction range. The averages (SDs) of maximum frictional speed at the elbow were found 0.63 m/s (0.17) at walking, 1.1 m/s (0.25) at jogging, and 1.98 m/s (0.35) at running. The frictional sounds of three coated nylon fabrics were obtained using these predetermined speeds. We calculated sound characteristics such as the sound pressure levels (SPL) and Zwicker’s psychoacoustic parameter using 1/3 octave band analysis. The SPL values ranged from 74.2 dB at running to 79.0 dB at jogging, which was about the same noise level as in the busy street. The values of loudness (Z) at walking and jogging were higher than that at running, but the fluctuation strength (Z) increased in the order of walking, jogging, and running.     

Cellulose nanowhisker-incorporated poly(lactic acid) composites for high thermal stability

In this study, biodegradable composites were prepared using cellulose nanowhiskers and poly(lactic acid). For processing at high temperature over 200 °C, cellulose nanowhiskers were prepared by ultra-sound treatment, with the high thermal stability of natural cellulose. The nanowhiskers were confirmed using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and thermo-gravimetric analysis. Surface modification of the cellulose nanowhiskers was performed to increase the adhesion between hydrophilic nanofillers and hydrophobic polymer matrix. The dynamic mechanical thermal analysis of the composites showed better reinforcing effect of the modified cellulose nanocrystals. The effects of cellulose nanowhiskers on the biodegradability of poly(lactic acid) were studied using a microbial oxidative degradation analyzer.     

Effect of frictional sound of combat uniform fabrics on Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) responses

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of frictional sound of Korean combat uniform fabrics on the human responses of ANS and to relate them to the mechanical properties of fabrics in order to find out the way to reduce frictional sound of combat uniform fabrics. Three different frictional sounds of combat uniform fabrics were selected by cluster analysis and their sound characteristics were calculated using Sound Quality System. Ten participants’ ANS responses such as heart rate (HR), the ratio of LF/HF, skin conductance level (SCL), and pulse volume (PV) were measured during presenting the frictional sound as stimuli. Mechanical properties were measured by KES-FB system. Response differences (ANS responses after stimuli — those before stimuli) of HR and LF/HF significantly were positive to all of the fabric sounds, while the differences of pulse volume (PV) were negative. This phenomenon explains that sympathetic nerve system of all participants stimulated and they might feel nervous or bad with the frictional sound of fabric. WC, MMD, SMD and weight of fabric were negatively correlated with ANS, but RT, B and RC were positively correlated. They appeared to be influential factors affecting ANS responses.     

Structure-property relationship and shape memory effect of polyurethane copolymer cross-linked with pentaerythritol

Polyurethane block copolymers chemically cross-linked by pentaerythritol, a four-way cross-linker, are tested for the shape memory effect. One of the copolymers shows higher shape recovery than any other shape memory copolymer synthesized by us so far. The copolymer maintains a surprising 94 % shape recovery after the third cyclic test. The four-way cross-linking by pentaerythritol and interaction between hard segments are mainly responsible for the very high shape recovery. Tensile mechanical properties also significantly improve by cross-linking. Glass transition temperature (T _g ) slightly increases with cross-linking content. Other characterization such molecular weight, IR, and X-ray diffraction is also carried out to understand the arrangement of copolymer chains.     

Highly efficient light-emitting diodes with microcavities

One-dimensional microcavities are optical resonators with coplanar reflectors separated by a distance on the order of the optical wavelength. Such structures quantize the energy of photons propagating along the optical axis of the cavity and thereby strongly modify the spontaneous emission properties of a photon-emitting medium inside a microcavity. This report concerns semiconductor light-emitting diodes with the photon-emitting active region of the light-emitting diodes placed inside a microcavity. These devices are shown to have strongly modified emission properties including experimental emission efficiencies that are higher by more than a factor of 5 and theoretical emission efficiencies that are higher by more than a factor of 10 than the emission efficiencies in conventional light-emitting diodes.