SBIR Phase I: 3D Printed Clothing Utilizing Novel Techniques in Electrospinning

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is in enabling a new method of prototyping textiles, particularly clothing. By allowing the automated manufacturing of clothing through an electrospinning desktop device, this technology can empower more people to design and create clothing in the same way consumer 3D printers have done for other objects. As the related material science evolves over the coming years, this technology has the potential to actually allow consumers to print wearable clothes from their home or business. As the technology matures, such robust, industry-specific devices will have impacts well beyond clothing, including medicine and filtration. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on the development a desktop device to make clothing that uses electrospinning as an advanced textile prototyping method. The electrospinning process is capable of conforming fibers onto unique 3D shapes. The proposed Phase I project will make considerable improvements to the electrospinning process so that textile prototyping will be faster, more reliable, and less wasteful. It will also support material science work to increase the strength and durability of electrospun materials such that they can be satisfactorily used as prototyping textile materials.