Project

DefeXtiles: 3D printing quasi-woven textiles via underextrusion

Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Jack Forman 

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Overview

DefeXtiles are thin, flexible textiles of many materials that can quickly be printed into a variety of 3D forms using an inexpensive, unmodified, 3D printer with no additional software. 

This is achieved by using the material properties to encode the textile form: specifically using the periodic gaps that emerge when not enough material is being used to print. The printer moves and prints the same as it would a solid, rigid sheet, but by leveraging the stringing behavior that occurs in thermoplastic filament we can encode small gaps that afford the stretchability and flexibility. 

In a sense, the machine and the material are co-fabricating the form: 

the printer—the macroscopic form, 

the material—the microscopic form

The simplicity of this approach is what makes it so powerful. We are able to 3D print dresses for clothing design prototyping, tough badminton shuttlecocks, full-sized garments—such as a skirt—to help users “try on” clothes before ordering online, interactive lamps that turn on/off and change brightness when deformed, and a 70m roll of fabric produced in a single uninterrupted print. 

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What are some future applications of this work?
  2. How do these textiles feel?
  3. Do you use any sustainable materials to print these textiles?
  4. How expensive is the 3D printer?
  5. What is the current status of the project?

  1. What are some future applications of this work?

    In our paper, we describe many future directions, but a particularly exciting future direction is leveraging DefeXtiles to produce low-cost and effective customized surgical meshes that better reinforce organs and tissue after surgery. 3D printed surgical implants have already been studied with promising results. Additionally, If loaded with antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin HCl, the degradation would slowly release the antibiotic preventing infection. Another feature is that the mechanical properties of the mesh could be tuned to match that of the tissue being supported. 

  2. How do these textiles feel?

    The textiles feel very similar to a tulle or mesh material with a soft and flexible feel. When shown many people cannot believe the textiles came from a 3D printer! 

  3. Do you use any sustainable materials to print these textiles?

    Largely throughout the paper, we use poly-lactic acid (PLA). This is a biodegradable plastic that often comes from corn starch; however, biodegradation only occurs in an industrial composting setting so the level of sustainability is limited. One route we are exploring in the future is using algae and coffee ground doped PLA, as a more sustainable alternative. Another option is that these textiles can be remelted, mixed with some fresh material, and extruded into a new filament (these at-home machines are expensive, but are getting cheaper) - also off-the-shelf filaments made from recycled materials do exist. 

  4. How expensive is the 3D printer?

    This approach uses an FDM printer. These printers have become extremely cheap, starting at ~$250. These printers are also widely available in most maker spaces. 

  5. What is the current status of the project?

    This project is relatively mature and is being present at UIST 2020 on October 23rd. With the base technology mostly established, reach out to me if you want to collaborate!

Research Topics
#design #human-computer interaction #fashion #3d printing #materials #fabrication #covid19