Fabric that Sweats for You

Tired of ending your workout in sweat-soaked clothes? A new waterproof fabric under development at the University of California, Davis, could keep you fresh and dry. Bioengineers at the university have created a fabric that works like human skin, draining away sweat using microfluidic technology.

Graduate students in the Micro-Nano Innovations Laboratory came up with the fabric by combining hydrophilic threads with water-repellent fabric. The water-attracting threads draw the droplets of moisture from one side of the fabric and expel them on the other side—in essence, the fabric “sweats” the fluid. A sustaining pressure gradient is generated by the surface tension of the fluid droplets, allowing the fabric to continue conducting fluid even when the fibers are saturated.

“We intentionally did not use any fancy microfabrication techniques so it is compatible with the textile manufacturing process and very easy to scale up,” said Siyuan Xing, lead graduate student on the project.

You can see how it works in the video below, and read more about the research in Lab on a Chip.

Source: University of California