Biomimetics and Technical Textiles CLOTHING TEXTILES Biomimetics And Technical Textiles
The significance of inspiration from nature for technical textiles and for fibrous composite materials is demonstrated by examples of already existing technical solutions that either parallel biology or are indeed inspired by biological models. The two different basic types of biomimetic approaches are briefly presented and discussed for the "technical plant stem." The technical plant stem is a biomimetic product inspired by a variety of structural and functional properties found in different plants. The most important botanical templates are the stems of the giant reed (Arundo donax, Poaceae) and of the Dutch rush (Equisetum hyemale, Equisetaceae). After analysis of the structural and mechanical properties of these plants, the physical principles have been deduced and abstracted and finally transferred to technical applications. Modern computer-controlled fabrication methods for producing technical textiles and for structuring the embedding matrix of compound materials render unique possibilities for transferring the complex structures found in plants, which often are optimized on several hierarchical levels, into technical applications. This process is detailed for the technical plant stem, a biomimetic, lightweight, fibrous composite material based on technical textiles with optimized mechanical properties and a gradient structure.
Introducing Biomimetics
Biomimetics or bionics is a relative new term for a process as old as humankind: borrowing ideas from nature for shaping and creating our surroundings. "Ancient" biomimetics led to the development of tools, clothing, and housing. With the dawn of the technical age and later the industrial age, technical developments deviated from natural prototypes, because looking closely, those principles were often too complex to be transferred to engineering techniques.
Instead of using nature's mostly flexible, soft, and force-adaptive structures, technical constructions mostly went into rigid rectangular shapes, which could be more easily calculated and mechanically tooled. Moreover, the invention of the wheel the processing of metal had no natural example, and they marked tones of the alienation of mankind from nature (Vogel, 1998; Speck and Neinhuis, 2004).
About the Authors:
The authors are associated with Institute of Textile Technology and Process Engineering (ITV) Denkendorf, Denkendorf, Germany and Plant Biomechanics Group, Botanischer Garten, Universitaet Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, respectively.
