Single fibre enables acoustic fabrics via nanometre-scale vibrations

Wei Yan, Grace Noel, Gabriel Loke, Elizabeth Meiklejohn, Tural Khudiyev, Juliette Marion, Guanchun Rui, Jinuan Lin, Juliana Cherston, Atharva Sahasrabudhe, Joao Wilbert, Irmandy Wicaksono, Reed W. Hoyt, Anais Missakian, Lei Zhu, Chu Ma, John Joannopoulos and Yoel Fink ()
Additional contact information
Wei Yan: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Grace Noel: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Gabriel Loke: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Elizabeth Meiklejohn: Rhode Island School of Design
Tural Khudiyev: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Juliette Marion: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Guanchun Rui: Case Western Reserve University
Jinuan Lin: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Juliana Cherston: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Atharva Sahasrabudhe: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Joao Wilbert: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Irmandy Wicaksono: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Reed W. Hoyt: US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine
Anais Missakian: Rhode Island School of Design
Lei Zhu: Case Western Reserve University
Chu Ma: University of Wisconsin–Madison
John Joannopoulos: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Yoel Fink: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature, 2022, vol. 603, issue 7902, 616-623

Abstract: Abstract Fabrics, by virtue of their composition and structure, have traditionally been used as acoustic absorbers1,2. Here, inspired by the auditory system3, we introduce a fabric that operates as a sensitive audible microphone while retaining the traditional qualities of fabrics, such as machine washability and draping. The fabric medium is composed of high-Young’s modulus textile yarns in the weft of a cotton warp, converting tenuous 10−7-atmosphere pressure waves at audible frequencies into lower-order mechanical vibration modes. Woven into the fabric is a thermally drawn composite piezoelectric fibre that conforms to the fabric and converts the mechanical vibrations into electrical signals. Key to the fibre sensitivity is an elastomeric cladding that concentrates the mechanical stress in a piezocomposite layer with a high piezoelectric charge coefficient of approximately 46 picocoulombs per newton, a result of the thermal drawing process. Concurrent measurements of electric output and spatial vibration patterns in response to audible acoustic excitation reveal that fabric vibrational modes with nanometre amplitude displacement are the source of the electrical output of the fibre. With the fibre subsuming less than 0.1% of the fabric by volume, a single fibre draw enables tens of square metres of fabric microphone. Three different applications exemplify the usefulness of this study: a woven shirt with dual acoustic fibres measures the precise direction of an acoustic impulse, bidirectional communications are established between two fabrics working as sound emitters and receivers, and a shirt auscultates cardiac sound signals.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04476-9

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