3D printing technology of polymer-fiber composites in textile and fashion industry: a potential roadmap of concept to consumer

The application of additive manufacturing, well known as 3D printing, in textile industry is not more totally new. It allows is giving significant increase of the product variety, production stages reduction, widens the application areas of textiles, customization of design and properties of products according to the type of applications requirement. This paper presents a review of the current state-of-the-art, related to complete process of additive manufacturing. Beginning with the design tools, the classical machinery building computer-aided design (CAD) software, the novel non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) based software and parametric created models are reported. Short overview of the materials demonstrates that in this area few thermoplastic materials become standards and currently a lot of research for the application of new materials is going. Three types of 3D printing, depending on the relation to textiles, are identified and reported from the literature—3D printing on textiles, 3D printing of flexible structures and 3D printing with flexible materials. Several applications with all these methods are reported and finally the main advantages and disadvantages of the 3D printing in relation to textile industry are given.

Additive Manufacturing and Textiles—State-of-the-Art

3D printing is a well-known technology for creating 3D objects by laying down successive layers of various materials. Among the wide range of applications, fashion industry has adapted these techno...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1558925020948216

3D printing for clothing production

Three-dimensional printing has already been shown to be beneficial to the fabrication of custom-fit and functional products in different industry sectors such as orthopaedics, implantology and dent...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1558925020924599

Testing thermoplastic elastomers selected as flexible three-dimensional printing materials for functional garment and technical textile applications:

Electrospinning is a well-known technology used to create nanofiber mats from diverse polymers and other materials. Due to their large surface-to-volume ratio, such nanofiber mats are often applied as air or water filters. Especially the latter, however, have to be mechanically highly stable, which is challenging for common nanofiber mats. One of the approaches to overcome this problem is gluing them on top of more rigid objects, integrating them in composites, or reinforcing them using other technologies to avoid damage due to the water pressure. Here, we suggest another solution. While direct 3D printing with the fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique on macroscopic textile fabrics has been under examination by several research groups for years, here we report on direct FDM printing on nanofiber mats for the first time. We show that by choosing the proper height of the printing nozzle above the nanofiber mat, printing is possible for raw polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber mats, as well as for stabilized and even more brittle carbonized material. Under these conditions, the adhesion between both parts of the composite is high enough to prevent the nanofiber mat from being peeled off the 3D printed polymer. Abrasion tests emphasize the significantly increased mechanical properties, while contact angle examinations reveal a hydrophilicity between the original values of the electrospun and the 3D printed materials.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/11/10/1618/pdf

Stabilization of Electrospun Nanofiber Mats Used for Filters by 3D Printing.

Applications of 3D printing in fashion industry are numerous, including 3D printing geometries on textile fabrics, printing parts of the garments, or even the entire garment. A crucial point of making such polymer/textile combinations usable is the adhesion between both materials. Investigations related to this adhesion, however, are still scarce. Similarly, the influence of 3D printed patterns on the geometries and the mechanical parameters of textile fabrics are only rarely examined. Continuing our previous research, the experiments shown here illustrate the influence of different printing parameters on the adhesion between fabrics and 3D printing polymer. These results will support other researchers as well as fashion designers in developing new 3D garment shapes by combining common textile fabrics with the relatively new possibility of 3D printing.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/459/1/012065/pdf

Adhesion of 3D printing polymers on textile fabrics for garment production

Drape is one of the most important properties of fabric, which significantly influences the appearance of a garment or technical textile. Being closely related to stiffness and other mechanical parameters, drape is also influenced by seams and other modifications of the pure textile fabric. In most investigations, the drape coefficient according to Cusick is used to measure drape, using a special drape meter, which allows to quantitatively describing the textile's behaviour in terms of drape coefficient, number of nodes, etc. This article gives an overview of possibilities to modify fabric drape by printing different geometrical patterns on textile fabric. Their geometry and distance also influence on fabric drape. The resulting differences in a real garment using a skirt as an example will show the impact of 3D printing on garment drape.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/254/17/172023/pdf

Varying fabric drape by 3D-imprinted patterns for garment design

Anthropometry is the study of human body. Anthropometric data are very useful for designing, as part of the process for developing a design solution in different areas. In the apparel industry, anthropometric data are an important component for producing high quality garments. Garment fit, is one of the main factors in the decision making of the customer. Different countries have undertaken anthropometric studies for updating their sizing systems used for garment design. The last anthropometric study in Albania, has taken place in 1989 with 10 000 persons participated in this study, distributed in 7 regions of the country. Later on in the following years there are taken several studies, but they have been aimed for small target groups. Moving into the full cycle production, by adding more value in the whole production chain of the garment production firms has become a necessity in the last years. There are few firms working with their own brand for the home market, but they use different garment sizing systems. So, it has become a necessity, for Albania companies which operate in garment and footwear industry to use Albanian sizing system. Updating anthropometric data, will help garment and footwear companies ensuring good quality for their products. The scope of this work is showing a methodology for extracting anthropometric data the implementation of advanced 3D technology. A literature review on anthropometric studies conducted in Albania will be introduced in this work.

/pdf/anthropometric-studies-advanced-3dmethod-for-taking-1cb1kka438.pdf

Anthropometric Studies: Advanced 3DMethod for Taking Anthropometric Data inAlbania

Within the fashion industry, 3D printing can be used for producing individualized products by 3D printing on textile fabrics. One of the main issues of 3D printed geometries on textile fabrics is the adhesion between both materials. Continuing our previous research, other textile fabrics are used as substrate for 3D printing. Again, washing tests which simulate the real use of the textile fabric for garment production indicate that round shapes and thin objects are uncritical to be washed compared to higher objects and square shapes, which tend to separate after the first or the second washing cycle. For nine textile materials under investigation, no separation was found at all for the first 5 washing cycles for two of them. Finally, a full construction cycle including 2D and 3D design, simulation, 3D printing and garment production is presented.

Ermira Shehi

Papers

3D printing for clothing production

Adhesion of 3D printing polymers on textile fabrics for garment production

Varying fabric drape by 3D-imprinted patterns for garment design

Anthropometric Studies: Advanced 3DMethod for Taking Anthropometric Data inAlbania

3D Printed Geometries on Textile Fabric for Garment Production