114: Design Meets Engineering: The Making of E-Textiles (ft. Madison Maxey)

What do wearable medical devices, automotive interiors, and healthcare products all have in common? 

 

Electronic textiles (E-textiles) can be used for all of them! 

 

Generally, the resistance of a material increases when it is stretched. E-textiles enable new form factors for conductive circuitry and new products due to their ability to maintain resistance despite stretching. But what kinds of materials are used in e-textiles, and how can we improve them even further? 

 

In today's episode, we welcome Madison Maxey, Founder and CEO of Loomia, a company centered around the manufacture of flexible circuitry for E-textiles. With her, we discuss:

 

🔹 What an E-textile is, and several different approaches of manufacturing them. 

🔹 Comparisons between E-textiles and traditional circuit boards. 

🔹 Material differences in E-textiles for different industries. 

🔹 How to market your niche industry or product. 

🔹 And much more! 

 

We hope you enjoy the episode! And as always, let us know what topics you’d like us to cover next! 

Learn more about our MSE Career Development Online Course, which includes more industry-specific information and advice.

https://www.mseacademy.com/courses/students-tier-2

 

Join our Discord community! You can meet other passionate materials scientists and engineers from around the world, discuss the latest breakthroughs in MSE, share materials-related memes, and get career advice from experts in the field. 

https://discord.gg/49dCV3W4eN

 

Check out our MSE-themed merchandise if you want to support us or simply show off your love of materials science!

https://www.itsamaterialworldpodcast.com/shop

 

For shorter segments and full video podcasts, subscribe to our channel on YouTube. For bloopers, audiograms, and interesting materials science articles, follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Feel free to message us on our social media platforms if you have any feedback or recommendations for future episodes, or email us directly at itsamaterialworldpodcast@gmail.com. Finally, reach out to David Yeh and Punith Upadhya on LinkedIn if you'd like to chat about the latest breakthroughs in MSE!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpUXt6ui8iC5npSizlfIJ2A 

https://www.instagram.com/itsamaterialworldpodcast/ 

http://linkedin.com/company/it-s-a-material-world-podcast/ 

https://twitter.com/ItsAMatWorldPod 

 

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed by either guests or hosts in this show are their own, and do not represent the opinions of the companies or organizations for which they are affiliated.

 

#FlexibleElectronics #ElectronicTextiles #E-Textiles

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Timestamps:

-          Teaser (0:00 – 0:45)

-          Intro, Vacation, Episode Highlights (0:45 – 4:03)

-          Introducing Madison Maxey (4:03 – 4:46)

-          What is an e-textile? (4:46 – 6:33)

-          Manufacture of e-textiles (6:33 – 8:22)

-          Comparison to silicon and other states-of-the-art (8:22 – 9:46)

-          E-textile uses: present and future (9:46 – 11:48)

-          Pivotal moments to tie careers together (11:48 – 13:51)

-          Prototyping vs. scale-up (13:51 – 15:40)

-          Pushing a product to market (15:40 – 17:45)

-          Market research: figuring your niche (17:45 – 19:07)

-          Industries for e-textiles (19:07 – 22:02)

-          Design R&D (22:02 – 23:14)

-          Challenges in wearable flexible electronics (23:14 – 25:39)

-          Flexible sensors in automotive (25:39 – 27:42)

-          Material differences in different e-textile industries (27:42 – 28:39)

-          Limiting factors in e-textile (28:39 – 30:45)

-          Impact of e-textiles in 5-10 years (30:45 – 33:04)

-          Advice that has inspired Madison (33:04 – 36:59)

-          Conclusion (36:59 – 37:25)

-          MSE Academy (37:25 – 38:29)