11 - Smart textiles with PCMs for thermoregulation

Abstract

Smart textiles are materials that have the capability to sense their environment or external stimuli and respond to these events by adapting themselves while maintaining the intrinsic properties of traditional textiles. Phase change materials (PCMs) induce thermoregulation ability to smart textiles by taking advantage of the high latent heat they absorb and release during their phase transition. Textiles containing PCMs are able to react immediately to changes in environmental temperatures and the temperatures in different areas of the body and thus provide comfort to the wearer, maintaining the body within a certain temperature range. There are many criteria such as the PCM type, the temperature ranges at which the phase change takes place, heat capacity of the PCM, maximum possible loading of PCM into the textile material, fabric structure, garment structure to be considered when designing smart textiles with PCMs for thermoregulation. PCMs can be applied to textiles in various ways. They can be permanently incorporated into the synthetic fibers, applied to the fabrics during finishing processes, embedded in a coating compound, or mixed into a foam, which is then applied to the fabric via lamination. With the ever-increasing demand for functional textiles, various smart textiles with PCMs are now commercially available. Additionally, some recent studies show the efforts toward the development of composite PCMs, some of which find applications in development of smart textiles with multifunctionalities. This review chapter is intended to provide an overview of smart technology for textiles with PCMs for thermoregulation and review of the latest developments in smart textiles with PCMs along with the approaches followed for PCM integration into textiles. The methods of quality assessment of textiles with PCMs and commercially available products are also reviewed.