Conductive Pleats

 

The PI conducted a preliminary study in collaboration with the Royal College of Art, London, MA Textiles Design Programme, Soft System Pathway, to experiment with conductive pleats as a pilot for this research.

 

In this exploration, bare conductive electric paint was first screen-printed onto polyester fabric using a screen pre-exposed to embed the folding structure. The painted fabric was then hand-pleated and heated in an oven to thermally transform the 2D material into a 3D form.

 

Following this transformation, students programmed Arduino codes and used a touch board to create sound effects triggered when the pleats completed the circuit upon touch.

 

This preliminary study established a foundational understanding of the desired outcomes and helped define the research hypothesis at the outset.

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