Nitinol is the name of a light weight Shape Memory Alloy having a content of Titanium of 45% and characterized by their extraordinary ability to recover any shape pre-programmed, upon heating. Until today Nitinol has been used in advanced sectors like aerospace and, recently, in medical applications.
Through the Technology Transfer Programme of the ESA, Grado Zero Espace has transferred this knowledge in traditional sectors, like the textile one. In this framework, Grado Zero Espace has used Nitinol to obtain an orthogonally weaved fabric, called Oricalco, used for manufacturing of the first shape memory shirt at industrial level. Its sleeves could be programmed to shorten immediately as the room temperature heats up. Besides, the inserted shape memory material permits to mechanically deform the fabric and, after heating it with hot air for few seconds, to return on the previous shape. It is possible to perform this “deformation-return in shape” transformation many times and it could be possible (choosing the most suitable textile structure) to decide almost every type of starting and deformed shape.
The competence derived from the manufacturing of this shirt included the knowledge of the most suitable design, materials, machines and type of weaving, together with the attention directed to the high costs of Nitinol wire. Besides, after Oricalco development, Grado Zero Espace continued its study on Shape Memory Materials and on other type of Ni-Ti Alloys accumulating a lot of experience in manufacturing different type of Smart Textile Structure (fabrics, knits, tubular, special yarn, hybrid yarn,…), and permitting, in some cases, to optimize the manufacturing processes also for serial production.
Shape Memory Alloys
The Shape Memory Alloys are characterized by their extraordinary ability to recover any shape pre-programmed, upon heating until reaching their Martensite-Austenite transformation temperature. Nitinol, in particular, is the name of a light weight alloy having a content of Titanium of 45% and, until today, it has been used in advanced sectors like aerospace and, recently, in medical applications. Biocompatibility of Ni-Ti alloys depends on the intrinsic strength of Ni intermetallic bond, that avoids the presence of its particles on the external surface of the wire, and on the inertness of superficial TiO2.
Through the Technology Transfer Programme of the ESA, Grado Zero Espace has transferred this knowledge in traditional sectors, like, in this case, for textile applications. In this framework, Grado Zero Espace has used Shape Memory Alloys to obtain a fabric used for the manufacturing of a shirt with long sleeves. The sleeves could be programmed to shorten immediately as the room temperature heats up. The shirt can be screwed up, pleated and creased, then, just by a flux of hot air (even a hairdryer), it can pop back automatically to its former shape. Later, the name “Oricalco” was associated to the fabric Oricalco obtained by Grado Zero Espace and used to manufacture the first shape memory shirt. The fabric “Oricalco” is available for Universities and research labs in the store.
Atoms: Shape Memory Alloy Shirt and Jacket (2010) : The gold shirt can change from daywear to eveningwear in a matter of minutes. The heat from a hair dryer crinkles the Nitinol shape memory threads woven into the shirt. The silver shirt uses the same technology to automatically “roll up” its sleeves when it is hot out, but its additional innovation is that its entire fabric is woven from shape memory threads (rather than having parallel Nitinol threads added after weaving). Called Oricalco textile, this fabric has been the subject of research about its potential additional uses, such as in coronary stents.
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Collection.
Besides, after Oricalco development, Grado Zero Espace continued its study on Shape Memory Materials and on other type of Ni-Ti Alloys accumulating a lot of experience in manufacturing different type of Smart Textile Structure (fabrics, knits, tubular, special yarn, hybrid yarn,…), and permitting, in some cases, to optimize the manufacturing processes also for serial production. Grado Zero Espace, in fact, had an important role within the Loose&Tight project, which aimed at developing a novel concept of elastic graduated compression hosiery based on the exploitation of the superelasticity of Nickel-Titanium based alloys integrated as thin wires in a properly designed textile structure. At present time, Grado Zero Espace is dealing with the development of a textile product (more in the specific an ortopaedic support) within the Avalon project, which has the principle objective to develop novel hybrid textile structures integrating multifunctional Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) and the related processing techniques as well as design, simulation and organizational methodologies. Oricalco fabric could be used to realize new prototypes of stents and medical devices, but it can be sell only with our textile design consultant activity.
Through the Technology Transfer Programme of ESA, Grado Zero Espace has transferred the shape memory materials technology in traditional sectors, like the textile one. In this framework, Grado Zero Espace has used the shape memory alloy named “NiTinol” to obtain the first orthogonally weaved fabric in the world, awarded by TIME as “Best Invention” of 2001. The fabric has been called Oricalco, used for manufacturing, at industrial level, the first shape memory and self ironing shirt. The Oricalco fabric could be also applied for making venous stents and for other specialized applications. A replica of Shape Memory Shirt in Oricalco Fabric is at the Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago.
Applications : Clothing – Interior design – Accessories – Medical equipment
Contact details :
Grado Zero Espace srl – P.IVA 05226490489
Via nove, 2/A – 50056 Montelupo F.no, Firenze – Italy
Tel.: +39 0571 80368 – Fax: +39 0571 944722
Email : [email protected]
