Integrating Differentiated Knit Logics and Pre-Stress in Textile Hybrid Structures

Abstract

This paper describes research in the use of machine knitting for manufacturing highly differentiated textiles and their implementation as the tensile component of a textile hybrid structural system. The fundamental concept of a textile hybrid structure is in generating form through the integration of bending- and form-active behaviours imple- mented in materials comprised, in some or all parts, of a fibrous nature. A prototype entitled Mobius Rib-knit explores the nature of a knitted textile as a part of such a system. Operating at the level of stitch structure, differentiated form-active properties and non-planar geometries are materialized within a seamless textile. Utilizing CNC machine knitting, a fundamental stitch structure, the rib-knit, is exploited for its elastic nature, while the ability to generate a shaped 3d textile allows for a seamless material to fit to an intensely contorted geometry. These characteristics are tailored to describe visual, spatial and tactile qualities; ones which are unique to the field of pre-stressed lightweight structures. While the rib knit is a conventional knit structure, its novel use is described in this paper as the articulator of surface dimensionality and patterning within an architectonic system