When subjected to excessive force, some polymer materials turn white. This effect is due to the development of micro- and nano-order voids that diffuse light, and it is known as crazing, an initial-stage rupture phenomenon. Although it is ordinarily desirable that polymer materials exhibit as little crazing as possible, researchers at Gifu University (Miwa/Takeno Group) have induced crazing intentionally in film to develop functional films, some of which have been commercialized for uses such as privacy films for mobile phone displays. For our part, we are working jointly with Gifu University and a number of companies to apply technology for inducing crazing in textiles in an effort to develop functional textiles that take advantage of the resulting structure.

Questionnaire 2014/Shinshu University Faculty of Textile Science and Technology Fii