A revolution in military technology. These words are primarily associated with superweapons, laser tanks, new generation software, artificial intelligence. However, in the near future, the military industry is waiting for a coup in the sphere of a less substitute, but no less important - in military uniform. The armies of the world are on their way to introducing a completely new military uniform.
It is assumed that the "smart" form will begin to appear en masse in the armies of different countries in the next 7-10 years. Now, several countries are engaged in the development of Hi-Tech-fabric and clothing based on it.
Conditionally "smart" fabrics can be divided into several types:
1. Passive. In this case, the material only collects and transmits information for subsequent actions to the user.
2. Active. In this case, the HiTech fabric not only receives information, but also reacts, part of the data is transmitted to a personal computer, which gives a signal to work out the functionality according to a given algorithm.
3. Interactive. Smart fabric not only collects information, but also reacts and adapts in accordance with external changes. In particular, body armor and protective plates created using these technologies will be able to restore their strength characteristics during combat. Or the material of the uniform could harden, creating, for example, a splint for a broken limb.
There are many demands on smart fabric
Several serious requirements are imposed on the promising form of the new generation. For example, on the one hand, it will be "breathing", but on the other, it is designed to protect against such dangers as viruses and chemical weapons. What are the reasons for these requirements?
First of all, modern biochemical protection suits are an extremely inconvenient form for the battlefield. They are bulky and hermetically sealed. The body of a soldier sweats profusely due to the latter factor. The related equipment is also not very convenient. Overheating, exhaustion … The effectiveness of troops operating in such vestments is reduced due to the fatigue of the soldiers, their distraction to everyday inconveniences.
The solution to this problem is protective equipment that "breathes": it allows air to pass through and, in particular, allows water vapor to escape. As a result, sweat, the main cooling mechanism of the human body, can evaporate. However, the mechanism must block chemical and biological agents. And this is where so-called technology comes into play. "Second skin". But this technology is actually just one element of more revolutionary change in its modern form. We're talking about a fabric based on carbon nanotubes.
Width - less than 5 nanometers
Carbon is one of the most sought-after and well-known "building materials" in chemistry. In particular, organic chemistry is largely based on the use of this particular element of the periodic table.
However, it is precisely because of their ability to function as pipelines, writes Anne M. Stark of Livermore National Laboratory. Lawrence (University of Berkeley, USA), researchers are developing fabrics with membranes that include carbon nanotubes.
Nanotubes are five thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. They provide channels through which air and water vapor can pass, but also block biological agents.
- says Stark: her words are quoted by news.com.ua.
In addition, technology companies specializing in aerospace and global security (for example, Northrop Grumman) are actively funding research in this area in conjunction with academic and government laboratories.
The use of carbon nanotubes is not limited to second skin technology; developers see their widespread use in other innovations, including flexible electronics, advanced aerospace components, and even the potential development of space elevators.
Carbon has long attracted scientists
The potential of carbon has long attracted scientists; they managed to obtain the first real nanotubes in 1991. Constructed from bonded carbon atoms, with the use of appropriate technologies, tubes can serve as the basis for a material whose pores are only several times larger than the diameter of individual atoms.
Even viruses are too bulky to penetrate such tissue. At the same time, air and water vapor pass so freely that the fabric “breathes” better than popular commercial fabrics like Gore-Tex.
At the same time, chemical agents are more compact and can even slip through a nanotube. The solution is to make nanotubes smart by equipping them with functional groups of molecules that act as gatekeepers to block the threat. According to Livermore team leader Quang Jen Woo, the fabric “: hence the name mentioned above.
Thus, the tissue will be able to block chemical agents such as mustard gas, nerve gases GD and VX, poisons such as staphylococcal enterotoxin, and biological spores such as anthrax.
- emphasizes Jen Woo.
Similar material was developed by the Joint Science and Technology Bureau of the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The Pentagon announced the possible appearance of a new smart fabric in December 2016: information about this was published by the Forces Network portal.
The use of nanotubes also offers other interesting perspectives. In particular, the equipment of the soldier of the future implies that flexible smart elements will be built into the uniform that diagnose the health of the soldier in real time. In addition, scientists are looking for ways to lighten promising combat systems by incorporating elements into uniforms. In particular, they are interested in the ability to get rid of the wires and provide both high-speed data transmission and power to the electronics. Nanocarbon tubes are the best choice for the development of flexible processors. However, the interest of researchers is not only focused on them.
John Ho, associate professor at the Institute of Health Innovation and Technology at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and NUS Engineering, spoke to Futurity about how his team managed to create a smart fabric that can be used as a signal conductor for multiple wearable devices at the same time. The article was published on July 29 this year.
Currently, most devices use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for wireless communication. However, these technologies quickly drain electronics, which is unacceptable for soldiers on a combat operation. The US Army has calculated that the cost of battery chargers may exceed the cost of small arms ammunition, as the military prefers to replace any batteries with brand new ones on missions.
Metamaterials
To create a new Hi-Tech fabric in Singapore, so-called metamaterials were used. Artificially created and possessing a negative refractive index, they have unique electrical, magnetic, optical and other properties.
Metamaterials are capable of creating so-called."Surface waves", which can provide data transmission with a power of 1000 times less than modern protocols. In addition, the transmission of such a signal is less vulnerable to hacking - information "travels" 10 cm from the body - in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi it can "fly away" to a distance of several tens of meters.
The smart clothes created are very durable. It can fold and bend with minimal loss in signal strength, and conductive strips can even cut or break without limiting wireless capabilities. Garments can also be washed, dried and ironed in the same way as regular clothes.
Such an intelligent form can be effectively used to monitor the performance and health of a fighter, reduce the sound level in headphones, and print messages. A patent has already been registered for it, and a fabric sample has been created.
The most interesting thing is that this technology can be used together with existing samples of uniforms. A laser is used for cutting and sewing. And the conductive material itself, the strips of which are attached from the inside to the uniform by means of fabric glue, is cheap. It costs in the range of a few dollars per meter and can be supplied in rolls for industrial use.
The previously mentioned carbon has another known form: graphene. If the nanotubes are in the form of a framework, then graphene is flat. It is made up of carbon atoms forming a lattice. For its opening, graduates of Russian universities Andrei Geim and Konstantin Novoselov received the Nobel Prize. Using graphene, scientists at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia have been able to develop a cost-effective and scalable method for rapidly making textiles that incorporates energy storage devices.
The next generation of smart waterproof fabrics will be laser printed and made in minutes. This is the future that the researchers behind new technologies for developing electronic textiles represent. Already at the trial stage, in three minutes, the method allows you to create a sample of intelligent fabric measuring 10x10 cm. The fabric is waterproof, stretchable and easily integrates with energy storage technologies.
Laser instead of a seamstress
The technology allows using laser printing to apply graphene supercapacitors directly to textiles. They are powerful and durable batteries that can be easily combined with solar or other energy sources. In the future, the method makes it possible to quickly create smart textiles in rolls.
Dr. Litty Tekkakara, researcher at the RMIT School of Science, emphasizes that smart textiles with built-in sensing technology, wireless communication or health monitoring require powerful and reliable energy solutions.
Modern approaches to smart energy storage in the textile industry, such as stitching batteries into clothes or using electronic fibers, can be cumbersome and cumbersome, and have performance issues.
- commented on Tekkakar's situation to Science Daily magazine at the end of August this year.
These electronic components can also be susceptible to short circuits and mechanical damage when they come into contact with sweat or moisture from the environment. Our graphene-based supercapacitor is not only completely washable, it can store the energy needed to power a smart garment and can be produced in large quantities in minutes.
By addressing the challenges of storing energy in electronic textiles, we hope to create a new generation of wearable technology and Hi-Tech uniforms.
At the moment, with the help of research, it has been proven that this material has shown resistance to various temperatures and washing, its properties remain stable.
The concept has been publicly discussed since the early 2000s
Testing the "smart" form began a long time ago. A concept for its use was published in 2005, and in April 2012, Surrey-based Intelligent Textiles showed a promising form at an event hosted by the Center for Defense Enterprises (CDE). The firm has patented a number of techniques for weaving complex conductive fabrics. Electronic fabric can provide uniforms with a single central source of power and transmission, eliminating most of the cumbersome cables and wires.
The system allows data and electricity to be transferred even if tissue is damaged - this is in contrast to technologies that use cables.
We have fabric embedded in vest, shirt, helmet, backpack and weapon glove. This allowed us to create a network that transfers energy and data to where we need it.
Asha Thompson, director of Intelligent Textiles, told BBC News.
The company then received about 240,000 pounds to further develop the technology. The firm was also developing a fabric keyboard for use with a laptop that was planned to be integrated with the uniform.
The global market for smart fabrics is growing
Market Research Future, forecasting this sector of the market until 2023, notes that the global market for intelligent fabrics for military use will surpass the $ 1.7 billion mark by that date.
According to analysts, the United States is working most of all in this direction, but Asian countries such as India and China are ready to invest in this sector.
Russia is developing its own
Russia is also not ready to stand aside. Zvezda TV channel reports on the use of intelligent fabrics in a set of promising equipment for the Russian "soldier of the future" "Ratnik-2". In particular, the form uses aramid fabric impregnated with a special composition from JSC "Kamenskvolokno". The TV channel "Zvezda" spoke about this in its material about the new outfit.
In 2018, Rostec presented the chameleon material, and in 2019 - its revised version. This fabric is capable of imitating the landscape - this material was used to cover the “Warrior's” helmet. To effectively camouflage a fighter or vehicle, the material only needs a few watts of electricity. Responsible for the development are engineers from the Technomash Research and Development Institute.
For the Arctic, the Advanced Research Fund (FPI) has developed a special material capable of storing heat during physical exertion and then releasing it back. In terms of the accumulated energy reserve, this fabric is capable of 3-5 times surpassing the available foreign materials. This was announced by the director of the fund, Andrei Grigoriev, in a comment to TASS on July 9, 2019. The fabric was created using the technology of producing ultrafine fibers using electrospinning.
In addition, Russian scientists have succeeded in developing smart materials similar to those described at the beginning of the article: they allow air and water vapor to pass through, but retain aerosol particles. FPI reported that work on the fabric is being carried out jointly with the Saratov State University.
