School of Physics Thesis Dissertation Defense

Presenter:        Krishma Singal

Title:                   Unraveling the Knot-so-Simple Behavior of Knitted Fabrics

Time:                  2:00 pm

Date:                  Monday April 15th, 2024

Location:           Marcus Nanotechnology Research Center Room 1116

Virtual Link:     https://gatech.zoom.us/j/5169429375?pwd=OThITnkvY0U0S2hBc0hQZHo5TndsQT09

Committee Members:

Dr. Elisabetta Matsumoto, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology (advisor)

Dr. Michael Schatz, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Jennifer Curtis, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Gregory Sawicki, School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Michael Dimitriyev,  Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University

Professor Lisa Marks, School of Industrial Design, Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract:

Knitted fabrics are a ubiquitous part of our day-to-day lives. Although we primarily interact with it through clothing, the programmable nature of knitted fabrics lends to its potential in a myriad of fields. Knitting is made by manipulating yarn, which is often inelastic, into a lattice of slipknots with emergent elastic properties. How the yarn is manipulated throughout the fabric, what stitches it forms and how they’re patterned, impacts the resultant fabric behavior under mechanical deformation. Traditionally, this elastic response of knitted fabrics is qualitatively determined, but this study works to systematically understand and quantify the programmable nature of knitted materials. We find that small scale changes in the topology of the yarn between stitches, the boundaries between stitches, have large scale impacts on the bulk fabric response. Not only on the stitch level, but the lengthscale of these boundaries further influences the fabric behavior. We probe the multi-scale behavior and application of knitting through several experimental studies: varying constituent yarn type composing the fabrics, comparing behaviors of classic periodic knitting patterns, exploring the impact of aperiodic patterned fabrics, and testing applications of knitting in biomimicry and biomechanics via known pattern composites.