2015-16 Senior Design Projects

Sponsor

Willow Wood Co.

Team Members

Ross Mason, Erin Quinn, Dessy Tio

Project Description

For people that use prosthetics, it is important for the junction to be comfortable and stable. WillowWood specializes in liners for prosthetics which are essential to provide comfort and reduce irritation. One method to ensure that comfort is maintained is to provide a cushion for the prosthesis. This team will research and develop different options to create 3-D fabric materials and designs that improve the breathability and flexibility of WillowWood’s liners, in order to provide the best comfort for all amputees.

Sponsor

Saab Barracuda LLC

Team Members

Whitney Brown, Joshua Humphrey, Bobby Keefe

Project Description

Saab Barracuda LLC currently manufactures Ultralightweight Camouflage Net Systems (ULCANS) for military uses that reduce detection of soldiers/vehicles through visual, radar, infrared, and thermal imaging. Our team will be researching ways to improve the multispectral performance of Saab Barracuda’s current camouflage systems by investigating more efficient conductive surface treatments and reducing the weight of the camouflage system, with additional goals of improving camouflage coloration and durability. We will test these materials to develop a new prototype of interest to Saab Barracuda.

Sponsor

NASA

Team Members

Nadeen Abdelhamid, Haley Callahan, Tori Hausman, John Schwind

Project Description

The goal of this project is to create flame retardant apparel to be used on NASA’s Orion spacecraft within an environment that has 30% oxygen. This apparel should have a wear life of at least three years, as it will be used on a three year mission to Mars. In addition to being highly flame resistant, the garment must also be resistant to static charge. The apparel should also have antimicrobial properties, as there is no laundering method for clothing in space. It is also necessary for the apparel to be comfortable, durable and non-toxic to the wearer. Finally, the final product should be lighter in weight than previous designs. The team will research existing products and provide a competitive edge via improving cost efficiency as well as eliminating previous shortcomings. Once research has been conducted, a prototype will be produced and benchmarked to other materials.

Sponsor

Hanesbrands, Inc.

Team Members

Leena Godbole, Mitchell Hicks, Michael Zito

Project Description

Auxetics yarns are a material that has a negative Poisson’s ratio. When stretched, they become thicker perpendicular to the applied force. Auxetics can be illustrated with an inelastic string wound around an elastic cord. When the ends of the structure are pulled apart, the inelastic string straightens while the elastic cord stretches and winds around it, increasing the structure’s effective volume. This technology is currently used for military applications such as blast shields or other shock absorbing mechanisms. Currently, the benefits of such a technology for a garment is not well understood. This team will work with Hanes to evaluate a design of experiments for outlining the structure-property relationships of auxetic yarns, identify a potential market, a prototype an innovative product.

Sponsor

Army Research Office (ARO)

Team Members

Kelly Bates, Kate Mestelle, James Schaefer

Project Description

A working canine must undergo physiological stress, which should be monitored to keep track of the canine’s health and safety. Our team will develop a textile enclosed electronic device for canines that is capable of detecting and quantifying stress levels. The device will be comprised of readily available electronic components and must include a comfortable textile that can be mounted on an animal, without a further increase of the canine’s stress level.

Sponsor

ASSIST Engineering Research Center & Hanesbrands Inc.

Team Members

Katherine Barrows, Mandy Hall, Hunter Hendrick, Nate Weiner

Project Description

Currently, wearable technology exists that is capable of monitoring basic vital signs such as heart rate and oxygen saturation. However, none exist on a commercial level that can monitor relative hydration levels. Our team is developing a wearable technology with monitoring capabilities for relative body hydration levels using integrated electronics and patterned electrodes. Other common biometric sensors will be considered for integration such as body temperature, EKG, heart rate, oxygen levels, and respiration rate. Our final garment will include at least 2 types of biometric sensors and will be launderable. The motivation behind this project is to increase access to biometric data for athletes at all levels. This will be a collaborative project with a senior design team from the Electrical Engineering department. They will be working on the circuitry as well as the creation of a mobile app for users to read the data.

Sponsor

Gildan Activewear Inc.

Team Members

Kenon Blackwood, Rachel Foote, Ciara Oden

Project Description

The twist experienced while wearing Gildan Activewear t-shirts needs to be significantly reduced or eliminated for improved customer satisfaction. To our knowledge, fabric detwisters, processes in sewing and verification of the yarn twist multiple have been implanted as solutions, however, no significant reduction in torque has been achieved. It will be our mission to examine the entire manufacturing process of Gildan T-shirts and identify factors within this process that cause torque. We will perform market analysis to determine torque issues associated with major t-shirts on the market. After identifying causes of torque, we will be responsible for identifying and implementing solutions to decrease torque, both during the manufacturing process and after the garment has been created.

Sponsor

Eastman Chemical Company

Team Members

Vernon Holman, Jade Luna-Ramos, Courtney Reiman

Project Description

Cellulose acetate (CA) fiber has attributes over many competing fibers in the fiber market such as cotton and polyester. Eastman Chemical Company has developed a new technology to spin cellulose acetate fibers. CA is used mainly in apparel linings and cigarette filters; this company would like to focus on the athletic apparel market. The goal is to use cellulose acetate’s attributes in conjunction with another fiber to provide a mixed component spun yarn. We must create an innovative yarn that will be superior to competitors in order to give us the ability to capture some of the existing markets. Our main selling points for CA are dyeability, luster, and wicking properties. By testing the performance of our developed yarn, we hope to break into the athletic apparel market by designing a successful prototype (fabric).

Sponsor

Cotton Inc.

Team Members

Tiffany Kelly, Kassi Wehbie, Kale Whetstone, Marcus Ziegler

Project Description

Our focus is to engineer a cotton based fabric that changes its structure to provide increased ventilation and air circulation in response to rising temperature of the wearer or environment. This mechanism will be accomplished through vents or shutters built into the fabric as well as other structures that will promote breathability and wicking in rising temperatures. The fabric will be developed to function both indoors and outdoors and be durable enough for use as a garment or for other practical applications.

Sponsor

Saab Barracuda LLC

Team Members

Jamie Barbuto, Brian Iezzi, Casey Kivett

Project Description

Military forces overseas are increasingly reliant on critical electronics for communications and projects, but sources of energy in varying areas can be difficult to harness. Saab Barracuda shade units currently are used for reducing heat and providing visual and infrared camouflage for vital military structures. The project will incorporate energy generation modules (such as solar and thermal) into flexible, lightweight, and durable textiles. These novel technologies will need to efficiently supply energy and be incorporated into new or existing platforms.

Sponsor

Patagonia, Inc.

Team Members

Patrick Balogh, Elizabeth Johnson, Dominique Koontz, Trishna Patel

Project Description

Durable apparel suited for outdoor use must meet the desired performance and comfort standards even after extended periods of use in extreme conditions. The main goal of this project will be to assess durability and comfort of existing materials in Patagonia’s technical and lifestyle product lines. We will specifically be focusing on two of Patagonia’s insulating, mid-layer garments. Evaluation of these fabrics’ comfort and durability will be completed by conducting current physical testing methods on the fabrics that make up the garments. This analysis could influence the development of custom test methods to simulate extended use, assess material durability, and identify possible failures in the fabrics. The project will also lead to the construction of an optimized textile product that can be integrated into Patagonia’s supply chain. Successful completion of the project will ensure that the fabrics meet Patagonia’s standards and likely extend the product lifetime in the specified lines. In doing so, Patagonia’s Ironclad Guarantee will be reinforced.

Sponsor

Hanesbrands, Inc.

Team Members

Fernanda Diomede, Garrett Hill, Voulitsa Koloustroubis, Halie Price

Project Description

Hanesbrands is actively searching for a garment that responds to a external environmental temperature to regulate thermal comfort. Despite advances in textile technologies that allow for temperature regulation in fabrics, there is no product available on the market with the ability to warm and cool in the same garment. The garment will contain both warming and cooling features to adjust to external temperature variations and provide the proper temperature regulating response between 50-95F. This will be accomplished by conducting research on potential materials that could achieve this and products that perform a similar function, setting a product performance benchmark, having an appropriate cost analysis, establishing a marketing strategy, and testing criteria/performance. If we create a garment that provides both heating and cooling features, Hanesbrand will be the first company to successfully meet this demand. It may be introduced as X-Temp/Vapor II.

Sponsor

Willow Wood Co.

Team Members

Zach Dean, Colleen Kaiser, Lindsay Peden

Project Description

The goal of the project is to create a liner used in the junction of the prosthetic so it is comfortable for the user, but does not compromise the stability of the prosthetic. The liner needs to be able to reduce irritation between the skin of the user and the plastic region of the prosthetic. The prosthetic liner should provide support in the desired directions while still being comfortable. The current liners being manufactured by Willow Wood have multiple seams, which decreases the overall comfort of the liner. The team’s overall goal is to eliminate seams on the liner to increase comfort.

Sponsor

Gryppers Inc.

Team Members

Alex Huynh, Jamie McLean, Desirae Scruggs, Shannon Tart

Project Description

The Gryppers technology helps to improve athletic performance by providing tackiness, fit, knuckle support, and durability all while still maintaining comfort, full range of motion, the correct sizing all within in a slim product. The Gryppers can be used in any sport as a replacement for tape or gloves. The team will explore new cost effective options for materials and manufacturing based in the US. The goal is to enhance the athlete’s performance without hindering their ability. Our team wants to improve upon the quality of the Gryppers product so that they can be taken to the next level for the next generation of athletes worldwide.

Sponsor

Monterey Mills

Team Members

Spencer Boykin, John Joyner, Charles Suaris

Project Description

Paint rollers are one of the most efficient tools to use when painting large surfaces. Traditional paint brushes are not able to hold large amounts of paint and require a large amount of time to spread paint over a large area. Paint rollers are designed to pick up and absorb the maximum amount of paint and disperse that paint to the widest area possible making the task of painting quicker and less difficult. The key to redesigning the paint roller is introducing new technologies to the current design that will improve the pick up of the paint from the paint pan to the roller and improve the dispersity of the paint from the roller to the wall. Redesigning this product will require research into new textile structures that can be applied to the paint roller as well as surface treatments that can be applied to the roller in order to receive maximum pick-up and maximum release. It is important to keep in mind while redesigning this product, one key factor is to keep the release rate of the roller in the power of the painter. This means that the painter should always be in control of how much paint is being released from the roller and how evenly the roller is spreading the paint.

Sponsor

Porticos Inc.

Team Members

Peiheng Feng, Jordan Lohn, Emily McGuinness, Emily Price

Project Description

Porticos has developed an innovative cooling vest that can be leveraged to improve the comfort of people in very warm conditions, such as a firefighter. The vest consists of perforated tubing that dissipates CO2 inside the vest, cooling the user. A challenge to the vest is regulating the CO2 gas flow so as to increase the use-time longevity of cooling. This team will explore integrative strategies for regulating the flow in order maximize cooling throughout the user for a longer period of time.

Sponsor

Under Armour

Team Members

Product Development Team: Adam Barksdale, Ivana Mbullah, Michaela Snavely

Supply Chain Team: Jon Duncan, Lauren Weichinger, Rob Wright

Project Description

The overarching goal of this project is to build and stabilize Under Armour’s quick-to-market supply chain process (this process will start and end in the U.S.). It is our responsibility to find the most efficient way to produce garments (tees, shorts, hoodies) that are able to be altered with different colors and logos at high speeds and low costs, but still produced at UA quality. This process will be able to react quickly to trends and events throughout the U.S. (examples: NC State makes it to a bowl game, neon green begins trending throughout the U.S., etc). We will use UA’s setup of production partners to kick-off the project and discover the best places all over the US to produce certain materials at high capacities. With the supply chain team rebuilding UA’s supply chain model and incorporating information on materials from the textiles development team, we will create a quick-to-market garment produced and sold in the US wherever it may be demanded. This new process will be efficient and manageable so we can reduce the garment lead time to 3-6 weeks.

Textiles Development Team

This sub-team will focus on at least three textile garments for UA and work to develop the yarns, knits, coloration method, through to the final garment.

Sourcing Team

This sub-team will focus in components of garment cost (and retail requirements), identify high-capacity machines in the U.S., coordinate potential mill and factory partners, and reduce garment lead-time to 3-6 weeks.

Sponsor

Hanesbrands, Inc.

Team Members

Marvin Graser, Kaitlyn Kramer, Symone Woods

Project Description

In 2013, 75% of traffic fatalities involving pedestrians occurred in the dark or during dawn or dusk. Reflective clothing can enhance the visibility of pedestrians and bikers to reduce the number of accidents on the road during dark and low-light hours.

The first step in the process is to find a test method to quantify reflective properties of a material or surface that can be used to test the garment we create (percent reflected, angle range, perception distance, light colors). The goal of the project is to find a material to produce reflective athletic clothing at minimal cost and design a reflective garment for safety and visual appeal.

Sponsor

VF Corporation

Team Members

Maggie Arnold, Dezerae Barnes, Callen Burril

Project Description

This team will work to improve jeans by bettering the comfort and movability, while maintaining the durability and integrity of jeans. Currently, the addition of polyester and spandex is used to improve the comfort of jeans. They will test new strategies for improving the waistband and seams of jeans to better the comfort and performance, while keeping the process simple and cost effective.

Sponsor

Firestone Fibers & Textiles

Team Members

James DeCoster, Vishal Rutanen-Whaley, Sam Stout, Bradley Tull

Project Description

Modern flat top commercial roof structures are traditionally supported by large steel truss and beam structures. These structures while very well understood and cheap to manufacture, because steel has been the standard large building material for almost a century, but are extremely heavy and the majority of post manufacturing cost comes from shipping and installation equipment requirements. Firestone Fibers and Textiles has tasked us with finding a composite textile replacement for traditional steel structures. Composite structures are generally stronger and much lighter than the materials they are created to replace. Our main goals are to create a composite that meets the standards currently set out for steel structures while also improving product lifetime, lowering weight, and creating a cost comparable product.

Sponsor

Patagonia, Inc.

Team Members

Trey Everhart, Chelsea Lloyd, Jesse Noble, Chris West

Project Description

Currently, fabrics that are used in submersion and wading products are not only stiff, dense, and heavy, but they also have poor breathability, causing discomfort for the wearer. Throughout the lifetime of these types of products, they tend to fail due to the separation of layers which is ultimately caused by bonds becoming weak between layers. Three other main areas of failure are the attachment of booties, seams failing, and the occurrence of punctures. Our goal is to first create a test method for fabrics that will determine whether or not the fabric will stay waterproof through use. The failure mode for these fabrics will test how durable the fabric is to surface wear, puncture resistance, interlayer adhesion, and, if used, the fabrics resistance to hydrolysis of any coating or adhesives on the fabric. After benchmarking current innovative technology as well as Patagonia’s given resources, we will proceed in developing a prototype fabric based on the criteria and constraints that are listed below, while keeping Patagonia’s mission statement of: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis in mind.