PLACE: Onl'Fait, Geneva
DATE: 5, 12/1/2018
PEOPLE: Cristina, Giorgia

STEP 1

I used Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires to make a sample of tissue showing smocking point. Smocking is an old textile technique that gathers fabric in certain pattern to create 3D decorative pattern on textiles.

MATERIAL

• SMA wire type 1
  • Diameter: 0.15 mm
  • Recommended current: 0.41 A
  • Resistance: 55 ohms/m
  • Activation temperature: 70 degree Celsius
• SMA wire type 2
  • Diameter: 0.30 mm
  • Recommended current: 1.5 A
  • Resistance: 12 ohms/m
  • Activation temperature: 100 degree Celsius
• conductive thread
• wires and wirestripper
• cotton fabric
• crocodiles wires
• 3 x 4,5 V batteries
• bench power supply

CREDITS

Kobakant

STEP 2

TEST 1 AND ISSUES

I prepared the muscle wires type 1 by heating them with a lighter and crimped the extremities with small metal beads to facilitate the connections. I used conductive thread to connect the 4 muscle wires to create a smocking pattern.

I then connected the extremities of the circuit to 1, 2 and then 3 x 4,5 V batteries. The circuit didn't behave as expected and only 1 wire at the time was going back to its original shape (a coil shape).

EXPLANATIONS

• The conductive thread introduced a too high resistance and the circuit wasn't closed
• It was extremely difficult to calibrate current and voltage with batteries (even though I made calculations based on the wires characteristics): only 1 battery was not enough but 3 made the fabric burn
• The connections between the wires and the threads were not perfect

STEP 3

TEST 2 AND ISSUES

I replaced conductive thread with stripped wires, SMA wire type 1 with 2 and I used a bench power supply to regulate current and voltage. I also so