Fabrication of Microfibers with Complex Interior by Shape-Changing Polymers

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New generation of smart textiles, where signal perception, processing and imaging occurs inside flexible fibers, requires development of methods for fabrication of fibers with high complex inner architectures. This is, however, extremely challenging task. Basing on own experience, we will develop a revolutionary approach for fabrication of such fibers using shape-changing polymers. According to our idea, two polymers (shape-changing and passive one) are first printed on the surface to form a film. The surface of this film can be patterned by using any available method including printing that allows fabrication of almost any multi-layer structure using various kinds of materials. Then the film is transformed into the fiber by its self-rolling due to shape-changing properties of one of the polymers. In this way, 2D pattern on the film surface is transformed in internal elements of the fibers. The central hypothesis of the project is that the desired longitudinal folding behavior of polymer film leading to formation of a fiber can be achieved by transverse orientation of chains of shape-changing polymer. The transverse orientation of the chains can, in its turn, be achieved either by printing of polymer melt at very specific temperature regime, which allows deposition of stretched polymer, or by printing of pre-stretched microfibers of shape-changing polymer. In this project, we will understand fundamental principles of deposition of polymers and polymer microfibers with controlled orientation as well as effects of molecular architecture and chain orientation on folding of the film.