• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.82-86
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• 2008

Cooling function is definitely one of the most desirable attribute of clothing. In spite of the recent progress on phase changing material(PCM) research, the final products with sufficient amount of cooling capability have not yet to be developed in market. A new concept of cooling fabrics has been proposed by applying "Peltier effect" to textile materials. It occurs whenever electrical current flows through two dissimilar conductors; depending on the direction of current flow, the junction of the two conductors is absorbed or released heat. This effect has been tested on P-type and N-type conducting polymers. A P-type conductive polypyrrole coated fabric was synthesized by in-situ polymerization on plain weave PET to make conductive fabrics. And an N-type electrically conductive material was synthesized by treatment of MWNT and polyethyleneimine(PEI). A noticeable amount of temperature difference has been found on the fabrics.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.395-413
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• 2009

Impact tests on high-strength membrane materials under biaxial loads were experimentally conducted in order to evaluate influence of biaxial loads on impact fracture of the membrane materials for the inflated applications. Cruciform specimens of the membrane materials were fabricated for applying biaxial loadings during the impact test. A steel ball was shot using a compressed nitrogen gas gun, and struck the membrane specimen. Impact tests on uniaxial strip specimens were also conducted to obtain the effect of specimen configuration and boundary condition on the impact fracture. The results of the measured crack length and the ultra-high speed photographs indicate the impact fracture properties of the membrane fabrics under biaxial loadings. Crack length due to the impact increased with applied tensile load, and the impact damages of the cruciform membrane materials under biaxial loadings were smaller than those of under uniaxial loadings. Impact fracture of the strip specimen was more severe than that of the cruciform specimen due to the difference of boundary conditions.