BULETINUL INSTITUTULUI POLITEHNIC DIN IAŞI Publicat de

Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi” din Iaşi Tomul LVI (LX), Fasc. 1, 2010

SecŃia TEXTILE. PIELĂRIE

DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNICAL TEXTILES BY USING CREATIVE METHODS

BY

ANA LĂCRĂMIOARA LEON

Abstract. As the general textiles industry continues to decline, companies must find a way to resist on market using innovation and creativity. They are more and more interested by producing textiles that can be used in construction, civil engineering, automotive, aerospace, medicine, safety and protection, agriculture, filtration, and sportswear. New product development can be difficult without knowing a few methods specific to creativity, widely spread after the second part of 20th century.

This paper presents a short analysis of applying some creative techniques (lateral thinking, brainstorming, mind maps) to develop high strength textiles for construction uses. These materials may replace the traditional building materials such as wood, concrete, and steel that is why they must have similar performances.

Key words: innovation, buildtech, lateral thinking, brainstorming, mind mapping.

1. Introduction The textile industry touches the lives of all people in one way or

another. The global manufacture of textiles can be divided into three segments: apparel, interior textiles and technical textiles.

Technical textiles are high performance textile materials based on special functionality. There are divided into several categories as: Agrotech, Buildtech, Clothtech, Geotech, Indutech, Medtech, Mobiltech, Hometech, Packtech, Protech and Sporttech.

The most intense research and development have taken place in the technical textiles sector. Because of the present recession, many textile companies are changing the type of their products and think more and more to innovate. The global market for technical textiles is expected to grow to the value of US$ 127 billion by the year 2010.

Innovation is a useful tool. People learn how to be creative. As shown

82 Ana Lăcrămioara Leon

in Fig. 1 until recent times, technology was the driver of technical innovation [1] but in the past decades this situation was changed and needs of customers took the place of the driver [2]. End-use customers are dictating the demand to innovate textile products in terms of both performance and cost.

Fig. 1 − The wheel of innovation.

In the construction industry there are a few major requirements: − life safety; − good insulation of walls and ceiling during cold months but the

building must not be too heavy; − good protection from external environment all over the year; − high durability even in special conditions (storms, hurricanes,

earthquakes); − nice visual aspect; − eco-friendly; − optimum cost related to the complexity of the project; − clean construction process (green building). Technical textiles and composite materials used in the construction of

buildings, dams, bridges, tunnels and roads are generally called BUILDTECH or BUILDTEX. Their structure and characteristics depend on construction demands. Some examples can be given: textiles for concrete reinforcement, facade foundation, interior construction, insulation, air conditioning, noise prevention, visual protection, protection against sun light, building safety etc.

The field of textile architecture is also expanding as textile membranes are increasingly being used for roof construction. Such fabrics as PVC coated high tenacity PES, Teflon coated glass fiber fabrics or silicone coated PES are used extensively in football stadium, airports and hotels.

Bul. Inst. Polit. Iaşi, t. LVI (LX), f. 1, 2010 83

2. Methods of Innovation 2.1. Using Lateral Thinking for Creating New Technical Textiles

Lateral thinking gives people the power to generate ideas at demand.

This technique was created by Edward de Bono and it is described as a systematic creative-thinking process that deliberately looks at challenges from completely different angles /1, 3/. By introducing unconventional thinking, people find novel solutions that would otherwise remain uncovered.

Lateral thinking focuses on “what could be” rather than “what is possible” and centers around four directives /1/:

− recognize the dominant ideas that polarize the perception of a problem;

− search for different ways of looking at things; − relax rigid control of thinking; − use chance to encourage other ideas. A group of master students was asked to use lateral thinking for

imagining some ideas related to architectural problems. The problem was stated like this: “You work in a construction company. Your team has to find out a BUILDTECH solution for a lightweight roof of a summer theatre”.

For creating workable solutions they have chosen to apply the technique named “Random Entry Idea Generating Tool” so they had to choose randomly any object or any noun from a dictionary and then try to make associations with the problem they had to solve.

Because the time was limited to 40 min, it was suggested to think of six natural life forms, randomly generated: lotus leaf, seashell, tree, fish, bird, and cactus. The next step was to search pictures on internet. Each person creates a table: in the first column there were inserted these words (each word on a separate row), and in the second column must write as many associations with the textile roof as possible. They had to focus both on performances and visual aspect of the textile material that would be used as a roof. After the time ended, the results were put together in a single table - Table 1 - and discussed all topics.

The final conclusion is that we need a textile membrane having the following eight properties:

− self-cleaning properties – this can be achieved with Lotusan paint; − aerodynamic shape; − eco-friendly – the membrane must be biodegradable after lifecycle

ends and it can store the rain in its structure then guide it with the help of special mini-tubes structure;

− good resistance to rain, snow and fire; − flexible enough to strong winds; − good shade and insulation during sunny days; − the membrane must be placed on symmetrical ribs; − light weight mass on square meter.

84 Ana Lăcrămioara Leon

Table 1 Associative Ideas Given by Using Lateral Thinking

Randomly generated word

Photography Possible common features with new technical textiles

Lotus leaf

self-cleaning properties due to a special surface structure perfect finished edges

symmetrical ribs going from center to margins

round shape

Seashell

light but resistant material optimum space inside

spiral shape pigmentation pattern

perfect symmetry

Tree

much shadow under it interactive with sun, rain, snow

"fluffy" structure with much air in it well-anchored into the ground

flexible structure to strong winds oxygen generator

Fish

slippery when you touch special geometry of skin

aerodynamic shape light weight

flexible movement water pressure resistant

Bird

structure of bones (air-filled) arrangement of feathers

aerodynamics light weight

good resistance to water drops penetration

Cactus

physiological structure that can conserve water

eco-friendly protection against animals

good insulation in dry climate

In the end of the workshop, students tried to search on internet real

buildings covered with textile membranes similar to the previous description. There were found two examples shown in Fig. 2.

Bul. Inst. Polit. Iaşi, t. LVI (LX), f. 1, 2010 85

a − Fish market, Kuweit. b − Vinago Research Center, Italy.

Fig. 2 − Examples of real buildings covered with textile multi-layered membranes.

2.2. Using Brainstorming and Mind Mapping for Designing

New Fiber Composites Brainstorming is a tool for getting a large number of ideas from a group

of people in a short time. This technique takes in consideration two basic principles: (1) everyone has the ability to think about how they can change a given situation and (2) with a training in creative thinking techniques, a person can improve this ability /2, 3, 4/.

There are four basic rules in brainstorming. These are intended to reduce social inhibitions among groups members, stimulate idea generation, and increase overall creativity of the group.

− focus on quantity; − delay criticism; − welcome unusual (strange) ideas; − combine and improve ideas. A group of students studied textile composites (materials made

from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties, which remain separate and distinct on a macroscopic level within the finished structure). After a short lecture, students used brainstorming during 20 min. The problem to be solved was stated like this: “What additional performances for fibers composites are needed to build a bridge?”

One of the students was selected to be the facilitator and he had to explain the rules of this session. Also he was trained to ask questions like: Can we combine these ideas? or How about looking from another perspective? Another one was selected to write all ideas on different sheets of paper. Each participant at brainstorming session was encouraged to think freely by using the “Wishful Thinking” technique. After time ended, the group discussed all given solutions, and it was made a mind-map (Fig. 3) [4].

86 Ana Lăcrămioara Leon

Fig. 3 − Mind-map for new characteristics of fiber composites.

3. Conclusions This paper deals with the subject of using innovation tools for creating

technical textiles that can improve the construction industry standards. There are mentioned some creative methods widely used for generating new ideas such as lateral thinking, brainstorming and mind maps. Received: September 2, 2009 “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iaşi,

Department of Technology and Design of Textile Products e-mail: lleon@tex.tuiasi.ro

R E F E R E N C E S

1. de Bono E., Gândirea laterală. Edit. Curtea Veche, Bucureşti, 2006. 2. Munteanu A., Incursiuni în creatologie. Edit. Augusta, Timişoara, 1994. 3. NagîŃ Gh., Inovare tehnologică. Edit. Tehnica-Info, Chişinău, 2001. 4. Preda C., Leon A.L., Racu C., Proiectarea tehnologică a produselor textile. Vol. I,

Edit. Performantica, Iaşi, 2008.

DEZVOLTAREA TEXTILELOR TEHNICE PRIN UTILIZAREA

METODELOR CREATIVE

(Rezumat) Pe măsură ce industria textilă îşi continuă declinul mondial, companiile trebuie

să găsească un mod de a rezista pe piaŃă utilizând inovaŃia şi creativitatea. Lucrarea conŃine rezultatele aplicării a trei tehnici (gândirea laterală, brainstorming, mind mapping) utilizate pentru crearea unor noi materiale textile destinate construcŃiilor. Experimentele au avut loc în anul universitar 2007−2008, la lucrările practice ale disciplinei ,,Strategii de cercetare”.