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Smart textiles

NASA tests full-size composite fuel tank

1 June 2014
For more than 50 years, metal tanks have carried fuel to launch rockets and propel them into space, but now NASA and Boeing's composite cryotank is about to undergo a series of tests to gauge its suit
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Cheaper films for phones and solar cells

1 June 2014
Transparent conductive oxide films are now an integral part of everyday life whether in smartphones, tablets, laptops, flat screens or solar cells, but they're still expensive and complex to manufactu
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MIT.nano a major investment

1 June 2014
Comprehensive facilities for nanoscale research are currently being constructed at the very heart of MIT's Cambridge campus in Massachusettes, for completion in 2018.
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Solvay teams with Plastic Logic

1 June 2014
Plastic Logic, based in Cambridge, UK, is teaming up with Solvay Specialty Polymers, to develop low power flexible electronics suitable for wearable devices.
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Stacked electrodes the key to new solar fabrics

1 June 2014
New highly-efficient solar cells based on stable, flexible textile electrodes that can be integrated into fabrics have been developed in China.
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LifeVest available throughout Japan

1 June 2014
Asahi Kasei Zoll Medical (AZM) has now launched the LifeVest Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator throughout Japan.
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Emana patent secured by Solvay

1 June 2014
Solvay has obtained a European patent protecting the use of its Emana smart fibre.
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Self-expanding implantable patented by TissueGen

1 June 2014
TissueGen, based in Dallas, Texas, has been granted a new patent for a self-expanding medical device capable of drug elusion within the body.
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Instant chill from Adidas

1 June 2014
World Cup veteran David Beckham is promoting the new Climachill range of active cooling apparel launched by Adidas and featuring fabrics incorporating SubZero flat yarns containing titanium and 3D alu
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Working on a miracle

1 June 2014
The first kick of the 2014 World Cup in Sao Paulo could well turn out to be the most significant in any football match ever - if all goes to plan it will be made by a paraplegic teenager with the aid
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SPECIAL FEATURE: Barfeoot in Brazil

1 June 2014
In the build up to the 2014 World Cup which begins in Brazil on June 12th, there's not much to choose between the new technologies being introduced by the two big names in performance sports apparel,
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Micro-massage material

1 June 2014
Puma is supplying the home and away kits for Italy, Switzerland, Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Chile and Uruguay at this year's FIFA World Cup football tournament in Brazil.
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Safer and cheaper route to VACNFs

1 May 2014
Vertically aligned carbon nanofibres (VACNFs) - which hold promise for use in gene-delivery tools, sensors and batteries - can now be manufactured using ambient air, making the manufacturing process s
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New antennae takes the stresses and strains

1 May 2014
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new, stretchable antenna that can be incorporated into wearable technologies such as health monitoring devices.
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Haydale IPO listing for further graphene development

1 May 2014
Haydale has announced plans to raise up to GBP10 million via an IPO in its leatest move to commercialise graphene and provide a functionally viable product.
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Nanotube composites for next generation solar cells

1 May 2014
Researchers at Umea University in Sweden have discovered that the controlled placement of carbon nanotubes into nanostructures can produces a huge boost in the electronic performance of photovoltaic s
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Small is beautiful for low power wearables

1 May 2014
Plessey, based in Plymouth, UK, has launched its smallest packaged MaGIC LED (manufactured on GaN-on-Si I/C) aimed at the surging wearable electronics market.
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Red Dot recognition for wearable tech

1 May 2014
Reebok's Checklight has been selected as a winner of the Red Dot Award 2014.
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Washable connector for smart fabrics

1 May 2014
Ohmatex, based in Aarhus, Denmark, has launched its first fully washable connector, designed specfically to provide connectivity for smart textile products currently in development.
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Stick-on patches for health monitoring

1 May 2014
Engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University have demonstrated thin, soft stick-on patches that stretch and move with the skin and incorporate commercial, of
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The outperforming polymer for tooling

1 May 2014
The use of Victrex Peek polymer in composites is helping the oil and gas industry to successfully deal with the increasingly difficult operating conditions it now encounters by demonstrating capabilit
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Chitosan route to bioplastic

1 May 2014
Researchers at Harvard's Wyss Institute have developed a degradable bioplastic isolated from chitosan, the chitin in shrimp shells.
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Wearable technology is pivotal says Reebok

1 May 2014
Prior to the Smart Fabrics & Wearable Technology 2014 conference, which takes place in San Fransisco from April 23-25, organiser SmithersRapra spoke to keynote speaker Paul Litchfield, Head of Ree
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Integral heat in new Lantor material

1 May 2014
Lantor, based in Veenendaal in the Netherlands, provides a range of flexible core solutions for composites with its Coremat and Soric branded nonwovens and at JEC 2014 in Paris introduced a flexible n
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FutureCarbon acquires Bayer CNT patents

1 May 2014
After concluding its research work on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphenes, Bayer MaterialScience is selling its fundamental intellectual property in to FutureCarbon GmbH, based in Bayreuth, Germany.
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Sensor monitors for quality of life

1 May 2014
The interest in sensors incorporated into apparel for monitoring either babies, or the elderly or bed-ridden - in order to contribute to quality of life - continues to gather pace.
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Three options for the Z-2 spacesuit

1 May 2014
Among recent projects involving ILC Dover, headquartered in Frederica, Delaware, is the development of the Z-2 spacesuit with NASA.
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Dedicated to new materials at AIMPLAS

1 May 2014
AIMPLAS - the Technological Institute of Plastics - has opened a new research centre for materials and nanocomposites at its Technology Park Paterna in Valencia, Spain.
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Textile testing in space

1 May 2014
On May 28 2014, the German ESA astronaut Dr Alexander Gerst will take off from the cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, bound for the International Space Station (ISS).
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Dedicated new plant for TissueGen

1 April 2014
TissueGen launched its first commercially-available product - Elute bidegradable, drug-loaded fibres for implantable medical textiles and nonwovens - in April last year, and ended 2013 by moving into
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DSM Purity medical range expanded

1 April 2014
DSM's production plant for medical-grade fibres in Greenville, North Carolina is now fully operational and qualified.
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Next generation hands-free from Apple

1 April 2014
CarPlay, Apple's latest iPhone system for drivers has been enthusiastically adopted by car manufacturers.
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Louis Vuitton carbon fibre designs

1 April 2014
Louis Vuitton has created a tailor-made set of luggage for the the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sport scar - naturally crafted entirely from matching black carbon fibre.
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Health on 'auto-pilot'

1 April 2014
Smart Fabrics & Wearable Technology 2014 taking place April 23-25, 2014 in San Francisco, will kick off with a keynote presentation by Paul Brody, Vice President and Global Industry Leader of Elec
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Graphene oxide yarn for smart fabrics

1 April 2014
A strong and flexible yarn made from graphene oxide has been developed by researchers in Australia and Ireland.
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Funding for quantum dots manufacture

1 April 2014
Quantum Materials Corporation (QMC) has secured the funding it needed to acquire and deploy automated equipment to significantly increase its production of Tetrapod Quantum Dots (TQDs).
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Piezomat project for new fingerprint sensors

1 April 2014
Research centre CEA-Leti, based in Grenoble, France, is co-ordinating a new research project funded by the European Commission to design and implement a new fingerprint sensor that enables the ultra-h
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Nanofibre investments by nonwovens leader

1 April 2014
Polymer Group (PGI), headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, has become the biggest producer of nonwoven fabrics in the world following recent acquisitions.
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Self-replicating 3D printers

1 April 2014
At Airwolf 3D's headquarters in Costa Mesa, California, the company's 3D printers for rapid prototyping within cutting-edge robotics, automation and assembly technologies, are now replicating themselv
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Gesture controller for home appliances

1 April 2014
Playtabase, based in Minneapolis, Minesota, has developed a new home automation technology called Reemo - a wrist-worn wearable mouse which exploits camera-less gesture control as an intuitive way of
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Independent travellers in biological waters

1 April 2014
A class of bio-hybrid machines, or 'bio-bots' that swim like flagella - single-celled creatures with long tails such as sperm - have been developed by engineers at the University of Illinois Gutgsell.
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C-ply fabrics for wingless wonder

1 April 2014
The wings of the VX-1 KittyHawk aircraft designed by VX Aerospace based in Morganton, North Carolina, are combined with the fuselage in what is described as a 'lifting body' or 'blended wing' design t
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Airbrush employed for medical nanofibres

1 April 2014
To supplement or even replace sutures, some researchers have proposed applying sticky, biodegradable mats of polymer nanofibres onto surgical incisions to seal them and promote healing.
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A century in silver

1 April 2014
Kodak held a dominant position in the photographic film business for most of the 20th Century - back in 1976, for example, it had an 89% market share of the total US market.
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Your personal black box recorder - wearable, disposable and very smart

1 April 2014
The meMINI is a remarkably simple idea that could well be the first big hit in wearable technologies - a video camera that's always filming while worn.
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Sold out situation for 3D printing filament

1 April 2014
Based in Emmen, the small Dutch company Applied Polymer Innovations BV (API) brings together some of the key specialists who have previously worked at now-vanished major European fibre producers inclu
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New nanocellular structures

1 April 2014
A range of engineered Ingeo PLA composites with unique nanocellular structures for high performance spunbond nonwovens has been developed by Kimberly-Clark, headquartered in Irving, Texas.
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From mattresses to car seats to running shoes

1 April 2014
A major European brand and retailer is planning to introduce running shoes incorporating Harrison Spinks mattress pocket spring technology across 7,000 European outlets this summer.
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Leti start-ups at CES 2014

1 March 2014
Cityzen Sciences based in Lyon, France, received the Inclusive Innovation Award for its smart monitoring shirt at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas in January.
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After the fuel pump, the engine

1 March 2014
Finnish company Myontec received the 2014 Wearable Technologies World Cup Award in the Sports and Fitness category for its sensor-integrated MBody sportswear.
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