Four-dimensional Printing on Textiles: Evaluating digital file-to-fabrication workflows for self-forming composite shell structures

This design-led research investigates the development of self-forming wearable composite structures by printing embossed patterns out of flexible filament on pre-stretched textiles and releasing the stress after the printing has been completed, whereby time becomes the fourth dimension of the printing process. In particular, the study presents and compares three methods of ‘file-to-fabrication’ techniques for generating self-forming textile shell structures: The first is based on modified geometrical patterns in relation to curvature analysis, the second on printed patterns related to their stress line simulation and the third on an analysis of the anisotropic shrinking behaviour of stripe patterns. The findings emphasize the advantages and challenges of each method as well as present a comparative table chart highlighting the relationship between material properties, pattern geometry and the formal vocabulary of the composite shells.