Smart uniform closes pores when it detects harmful chemicals

Being in the military – especially if you are in the higher ranks, would make you privy to some of the more unusual devices that do make you wonder whether you are living in a science fiction world. This time around, researchers are exploring the possibility of a new kind of fabric that will see action in military uniforms, sporting pores to keep soldiers cool. This will be a smart uniform of sorts, as it can quickly shut its pores whenever it detects the presence of harmful chemicals in the vicinity. Sorta like a prototype of the alien symbiote that Spiderman and Venom “wore” in the comics.

Francesco Fornasiero, a chemical engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said, “Without the need of an external control system, the fabric will be able to switch reversibly from a highly breathable state to a protective one in response to the presence of the environmental threat. In the protective state, the uniform will block the chemical threat while maintaining a good breathability level.”

It will take some time before such uniforms are combat ready, as researchers have only managed to make small pieces of one layer of the proposed fabric. Such futuristic material could eventually take up to a decade to be ready for action on the battlefield, so treading on the cautious side of things would still be the order of the day at the moment.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Military