TEXTILES.ORG
The Advanced Textiles Association (ATA) presents its Emerging Technologies Conference beginning Oct. 31 at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla., and continuing through Nov. 2 as a part of Advanced Textiles Expo 2023. Presentations will begin at the opening lunch at 11:30 and continue throughout Expo 2023.
Scheduled presentations
Jeremy Husic, senior staff engineer, Inteva Products, will speak on “The challenges of smart surfaces in automotive trim.” He will discuss how developing smart surface technology has enabled functionalities in areas that were once simply decorative automotive trim, and address some of the challenges associated with it.
Carsten Linti, Technology Center Biomedical Engineering and Bastian Baesch, Sensors & Actuators, DITF, will present “Sensor yarns in biomedical and technical applications.” The presentation gives an overview over several sensor yarn application developments in biomedical and technical applications by the DITF. Yarn and textile-based sensors for temperature and pH, moisture, touch and other applications, and their integration into textile products will be discussed.
Dr. Jesse S. Jur, director of technical program development, Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA), will speak on the topic, “Moving towards textiles 2.0 – building blocks for maturing advanced fiber & fabric products.” Advanced functional fiber and fabric product opportunities and their related challenges will be reviewed along with AFFOA’s current and future strategies for developing infrastructure elements to support market maturation and commercialization.
Haskell Beckham, Ph.D., vice president, innovation, Columbia Sportswear, will discuss functional fabrics inspired by space travel. The extreme temperatures of space have inspired his company to create functional fabrics to keep people comfortable on earth. One of these new fabrics is going to the moon as part of a partnership with a space exploration company. He will discuss the fundamental science and technology behind it, and why the company is involved.
David R. Forrest, ScD, PE, Principal Technical Consultant, Nexight Group, will discuss nanotechnology and textiles looking at possibilities for the future in nanotechnology as it becomes capable of developments such as atomic quantum bits capable of storing basic units of information (qubits) with tremendous potential for wearables, with other developments ushering in a new era of textiles that are self-assembling and fully sustainable. Forrest first discussed nanotechnology at Expo in 1995.
“LCP Fiber and Space Exploration” is Matthew Reid’s topic. He is industrial market manager, Vectran Fiber Division, Kuraray America Inc. LCP (liquid crystal polymer) fiber has a long history of being used in space exploration and other uncompromising environments where failure is not an option. This presentation will discuss some of these space application projects, further explain LCP fiber, and dig deeper into why LCP fiber performs in applications like space exploration and other critical use environments.
Demitri Balabanov, Ph.D., CEO, CTO, Apparel Robotics Corp., will discuss state-of-the-art robotics and automation in clothing manufacturing. He will trace the technological “breadcrumbs” that led us to where we are today, and he will look at recent developments and research in robotics and automation in clothing manufacturing.
Tuesday’s scheduled events end with a networking reception for all participants. A number of shorter presentations will be on the schedule Nov. 1–2. All access registration is required to attend the conference. For more information, and to register, visit https://advancedtextilesexpo.com/register/.