Advanced Textile Manufacturing Utilizing 3D Printing

The design and fabrication of clothing item is a multistep process that starts with fiber production leading to fabric manufacturing, sizing, designing and tailoring; all time consuming, invasive, and often inaccurate processes resulting in consumer dissatisfaction. Compared to traditional textile manufacturing methods, which assemble 3D structures from 2D components, 3D Printing does not require to transition from 2D to 3D, thus conventional spreading, cutting, and sewing can be eliminated. In addition, 3D Printing permits to incorporate complex designs into textile products and offers the potential to create seamless clothing.In order to reduce the number of steps required to manufacture an item of clothing and simplify the production of the personalized garments (One for You not One Fit All), Lynntech is developing new polymeric materials that can be extruded to make filaments compatible with Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) technique to produce clothing articles with a mechanical strength and water vapor transport capabilities essential for fabrics. During the proposed Phase II effort, Lynntech will develop processes and formulations to create features associated with wearable garments that would result in to printing clothing like prototype items.