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There is a developing interest in flexible sensors, especially in the new and intelligent generation of textiles. The purpose of this paper is to fabricate a flexible capacitive sensor on a PET fabric and to investigate some affecting factor on its performance.

PET fabric, coated with graphite or with graphite/PEDOT:PSS, was applied as electrodes. Two types of electrospun nanoweb layers from polyamide and polyvinyl alcohol polymers were used as dielectrics. Some factors including electrode area, fabric conductivity, fabric roughness, dielectric thickness, dielectric insulation type and vertical pressure were considered as independent variables. The capacity of the sensor and its detection threshold considered as the outcome (response) variables. Control samples were fabricated by using aluminum plates and cellulosic layer as electrodes and dielectric, respectively.

Results showed that post-coating with PEDOT:PSS would improve the conductivity of electrodes up to 300 Ω in comparison with just graphite-coated samples. It was also found that either by improving the conductivity or increasing the area of electrode plates the sensitivity of sample would be increased in pressure stimulating tests.

The fabric sensor showed remarkable response toward pressure with a lower detection threshold of 30mN/cm² (obtained capacity ~ 4×104 pF) in comparison with aluminum electrode sensors.

One of the recent applications of fabrics is to use them for sound insulation. Accordingly, due to their low production cost and low relative density, fabrics have drawn attention in some of the industries such as the automotive and aircraft industries. The present study is aimed to investigate the effects of the fiber cross-section, porosity, thickness of samples and fuzzing of the knitted fabric on the sound absorption coefficient.

In the present study, fabrics with three different stitch densities were knitted by yarns consist of three different forms of fiber cross-section shapes (circular, elliptical and plus-shaped). In this work, the sound absorption coefficient of knitted fabrics was investigated with regard to the different fiber cross-sections and structural parameters using an impedance tube.

As indicated by the obtained results, the cross-section, porosity, thickness and mass per unit area of the fabrics were the determinant factors for the sound absorption coefficient. In addition to, the sound absorption coefficient and porosity were shown to have an inverse relationship.

A section of the present paper has been allocated to the investigation of the effect of the fiber cross-section and fuzzing of fabric on the sound absorption of plain knitted fabrics.

This paper is based on the simulation of wind tunnel experiment for better understanding and predicting the behavior of PET fabric in the wind tunnel. This software calculates the drag force of fabric, illustrates pressure in the surrounding of airfoil and velocity of wind in the tunnel during different angles of attack (0°, 45° and 90°). The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The sol-gel method was applied for the synthesis of silica nano particles. So, PET fabric was coated with precursor (Tetra ethyl ortho silicate) solution first and the process continued on PET fabric. The morphology of obtained hydrophobic fabric samples and their surface roughness was observed and determined by atomic microscopes (AFM and SEM). Experimental data were used for simulation and modeling, and then results were interpreted.

It was concluded that the surface roughness and its amount can play a significant role in the drag reduction of PET fabric, and surface roughness can change the boundary layer from laminar to turbulent.

At 45 degrees angle of attack, larger boundary layer separation results in a large increase in the drag force. This model is useful for predicting flow behavior in the experimental wind tunnel.

During 2008 Olympics, Michael Phelps had a record-breaking performance. One contributing factor to his success was the full-body swimsuit he was wearing. Cases like these were the reason for the initiation of study and research for improvement in the new generation of sport gears. The purpose of this paper is to show that drag force plays a significant role in swimmers’ speed through the water; thus, using swimsuit with minimized drag force becomes imperative for Olympians like Michael Phelps.

This paper shows a comparative evaluation of hydrodynamics of three PET fabrics with different finishings that have hydrophobic behavior over a range of Reynolds number 1.0218×10³ and 1.365×10³ in the air medium at 20°C ambient temperature, and Reynolds number ranging from 15.68856×10³ to 20.958×10³ in the water medium at 20°C ambient temperature under stable stretch conditions.

The results show that hydrophobic finishing reduces the drag force by 1.5 percent at the angles of attack of 0 and 90 degrees.

If all the factors are considered to be stable for the swimmer, the drag force reduces by 1.5 percent, thereby increasing the speed of swimmer by 1.22 percent, which means that the record of the swimmer improves by 0.819 seconds.